Massachusetts Appeals Court

Court: Cops can't frisk somebody simply because of an anonymous 911 call

adamg — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:12:07 -0500

The Massachusetts Appeals Court today threw out a New Bedford man's conviction on a charge of illegal gun possession because his similarity to the description of a man holding a gun in the air in an anonymous 911 call was not enough to warrant ordering him out of his car and searching it.

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Appeals court reverses another conviction because nobody appeared in court to testify man's gun was really a gun

adamg — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:43:28 -0500

For the fourth time in recent weeks, the Massachusetts Appeals Court has reversed a gun-possession conviction because prosecutors did not have a "ballistician" testify that the device the defendant was charged with possessing was actually a gun that could be fired.

As in the earlier cases, the court ruled this violated the defendant's constitutional right to confront an accuser.

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Court upholds conviction on charge of assault and battery with a dangerous gas

adamg — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:56:14 -0500

The Massachusetts Appeals Court today upheld an assault and battery charge against a man who flooded his estranged wife's home with natural gas and who had to be pulled out of the house when it caught fire.

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When waterproofing company turned a homeowner's yard into a hazardous-waste site, it sued the homeowner

adamg — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:44:05 -0500

Maybe you have to be a lawyer to read the decision in Clean Harbors Environmental Services vs. Boston Basement Technologies and not go: WTF?

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Pair may have just bought themselves the world's most expensive batteries and light bulbs

adamg — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:23:46 -0400

Two people who sued Home Depot for charging sales tax on the value of coupons on some batteries and light bulbs have just had their suit dismissed by the Massachusetts Appeals Court - which ordered them to reimburse Home Depot for eight years' worth of court costs in the case.

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Court slapps down landlord who sued tenant in condemned building

adamg — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:13:10 -0400

The Massachusetts Appeals Court today dismissed a suit by a Dorchester landlord against a tenant who testified about the conditions inside his apartment during a city hearing on whether to condemn his building as unfit for human habitation.

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Stalkers can reform themselves, court rules

adamg — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:08:51 -0400

The Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled today a lower-court judge was wrong to permanently bar a man from contact with a former lover and her daughter, because there is no evidence he is still barraging her with "thousands" of phone calls and that if she begins to feel physically threatened, she can always file for a new temporary protective order.

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Court: The trooper had a hunch, and he was right, but that wasn't good enough

adamg — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:24:53 -0400

The Massachusetts Appeals Court today overturned the conviction of a man arrested in Brockton for illegal gun possession because the trooper who'd pulled over the cab he was riding in and found his gun didn't have enough justification to search him in the first place.

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Rape conviction overturned because cop who testified wasn't the first person the victim talked to

adamg — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:20:46 -0400

The Massachusetts Appeals Court today reversed a man's conviction for a 1988 rape because Suffolk County prosecutors relied on testimony from a Boston police officer whom the victim told about her rape even though he was not the first person the victim talked to.

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Jury to determine whether a dog's propensity to hump children was a forewarning it would bite one of them

adamg — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:13:31 -0400

The Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled today a boy who spent four days in the hospital after having his leg ripped up by a neighbor's pit bull can make his case to a jury that his landlord was partially to blame.

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