MEMORANDUM & ORDER GORTON, District Judge. This case arises out of an investigation of the drug trafficking activities of Defendant Nelson Arroyo ("Arroyo" or "defendant") in Massachusetts. Arroyo is charged with Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute and to Distribute Cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. 846 and Possession with Intent to Distribute Cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1). Pending before the Court are Arroyo's motions to suppress. Arroyo seeks to suppress...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER YOUNG, District Judge. I. INTRODUCTION Under Massachusetts law, a person in possession of, and holding record title to, a property subject to the adverse claim of another may bring an action under the state's try title statute to resolve the dispute. In the process of adjudicating a try title claim between the above captioned parties, this Court held that the try title statute allowed a mortgagor to bring an action against a purported mortgagee who had initiated...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER YOUNG, District Judge. I. INTRODUCTION William Norkunas ("Norkunas"), a disabled individual as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 ("ADA"), 42 U.S.C. 12101-12213, brought this suit after he visited the Royal Sonesta Hotel Boston (the "Royal Sonesta") against HPT Cambridge, LLC and Cambridge TRS, Inc., respectively the owner and lessee of the Royal Sonesta. Norkunas alleges that he encountered several architectural barriers during his visit, which...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER YOUNG, District Judge. Because it replaces with federal regulation the vision of democratically elected state legislators as to what is best for their citizens, federal "[p]reemption is strong medicine, not casually to be dispensed." Brown v. United Airlines, Inc., 720 F.3d 60 , 71 (1st Cir.2013) (quoting Grant's Dairy-Maine, LLC v. Comm'r of Me. Dept. of Agric., Food, and Rural Res., 232 F.3d 8 , 18 (1st Cir.2000)). Moreover, the law of preemption is much of a...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER YOUNG, District Judge. I. INTRODUCTION Justice E. Ainooson ("Ainooson") was convicted of second-degree murder, carrying a firearm without a license, and possession of a firearm without a federal identification card in October 2007 after a jury trial in the Massachusetts Superior Court (the "Superior Court"), sitting in and for the County of Plymouth. Resp't's Mem. Law Opp'n Pet. Writ Habeas Corpus ("Habeas Opp'n") 1-2, ECF No. 19; see also Commonwealth v. Ainooson, No....
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER YOUNG, District Judge. I. INTRODUCTION Insurance Recovery Group, Inc. ("IRG") moves for sanctions against the law firm of Meiselman, Packman, Nealon, Scialabba & Baker P.C. 1 ("Meiselman" or the "Firm"), a present member of the Firm, D. Greg Blankinship ("Blankinship"), and an attorney formerly associated with the Firm, Joshua S. Bauchner ("Bauchner") (collectively, the "Defendants' Counsel") for allegedly counseling their clients to destroy evidence sought in...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER SARIS, Chief Judge. I. INTRODUCTION This case involves a dispute over whether Defendant National Institutes of Health ("NIH") should be permitted to fund the new National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories ("BioLab") at the Boston University Medical Center ("BUMC") in Boston's South End and Roxbury neighborhoods. If approved, the facility will house Biosafety Level-3 ("BSL-3") and Biosafety Level-4 ("BSL-4") laboratories designed to research extremely...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER WITH REGARD TO PLAINTIFF'S MOTION TO REMAND (Document No. 10) NEIMAN, United States Magistrate Judge. Presently before the court is Alfred Bates ("Plaintiff")'s motion, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1447(c), to remand this action to the Hampden County Superior Court where he originally filed his complaint. Life Care Centers of America, Inc. ("Defendant") had removed this action under 28 U.S.C. 1446, alleging that the amount-in-controversy requirement of 28 U.S.C. 1332(a)...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON PLAINTIFFS' APPLICATION FOR AN AWARD OF ATTORNEY'S FEES AND COSTS STEARNS, District Judge. Plaintiffs, as the prevailing parties in this constitutional challenge to the application of Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), 1 1 U.S.C. 7, to same-sex military spouses, seek an award of attorney's fees pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. 2412(a)(1) & (d), in the amount of $170,229 (plus costs of $350). Under the EAJA, the United...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON APPEAL FROM BANKRUPTCY COURT HILLMAN, District Judge. Nature of the Proceeding This is an appeal from a final order of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts in an adversarial proceeding brought by David M. Nickless, Trustee (the "Trustee") against the HSBC Bank USA, National Association, as Indenture Trustee of the Fieldstone Mortgage Investment Trust, Series 2005-2 ("HSBC"), Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. ("MERS"), U.S....
MEMORANDUM & ORDER GORTON, District Judge. Appellant OneUnited Bank ("OneUnited" or "the Bank") negotiated two mortgage loans with appellee Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church of Boston ("CSAME"), upon which CSAME ultimately defaulted. When the Bank sought to foreclose upon the mortgaged properties, CSAME filed a Chapter 11 petition in the Bankruptcy Court of this District. The Bank subsequently filed a proof of claim and moved to dismiss the bankruptcy petition. CSAME objected...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER SARIS, Chief Judge. I. INTRODUCTION Plaintiff Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company ("MassMutual") has filed eleven actions 1 against eleven corporate and thirty-three individual defendants 2 alleging violations of the Massachusetts Uniform Securities Act, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 110, 410, based on its purchases of residential mortgage-backed securities ("RMBSs"). Plaintiff purchased 121 securitized certificates, totaling approximately $2 billion, from the...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON PARTIES' CROSS-MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT STEARNS, District Judge. Plaintiff Linda Pingiaro brought this action in the Massachusetts state court against Standard Insurance Company (Standard) and her former employer, Eaton Vance Management (EVM), asserting claims related to Standard's denial of her application for disability benefits. Pingiaro variously alleges breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, violations of Mass. Gen....
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER WITH REGARD TO DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR JUDICIAL REVIEW OF UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY'S DECISION IN DISPUTE REGARDING COST REIMBURSEMENT FOR THE GEPITTSFIELD/ HOUSATONIC RIVER SITE (Document No. 188) NEIMAN, United States Magistrate Judge. Presently before the court is a cost-reimbursement dispute between Defendant General Electric ("GE") and Plaintiff United States of America, more particularly the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA"), arising out of...
CONFIDENTIALITY STIPULATION AND PROTECTIVE ORDER MARK WOLF, District Judge. WHEREAS, the parties are seeking and/or may in the future seek from each other or nonparties information, documents or things which may be considered by the Producing Party proprietary or confidential (hereafter collectively referred to as "Confidentiallnformation"); and WHEREAS, the parties wish to protect such Confidential Information from unauthorized and unnecessary disclosure; NOW, THEREFORE, in the interest...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON CLAIM CONSTRUCTION STEARNS, District Judge. Acusphere, Inc., and its exclusive licensee Cephalon, Inc. (collectively, Acusphere), brought this lawsuit against Celgene Corp. and Abraxis BioScience, LLC (collectively, Celgene), 1 alleging that Celgene's antitumor drug Abraxane infringes U.S. Patent RE40, 493, "Porous Paclitaxel Matrices and Methods of Manufacture Thereof" (the '493 patent). To resolve the dispute over the reach of the '493 patent, the parties ask the...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS THE AMENDED COMPLAINT STEARNS, District Judge. Plaintiff Michael P. Kenney brought this copyright infringement action against Warner Brothers Entertainment Inc. and Langley Park Pictures (collectively, Warner Brothers), alleging that Warner Brothers' recent acquisition of the rights to develop a motion picture based on Roger Hobbs's precocious debut novel "Ghostman" infringes his copyright in a "comic book, screenplay and franchise movie"...
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW SAYLOR, District Judge. This is a civil action involving an alleged violation of the Massachusetts Criminal Offender Record Information ("CORI") statute, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 6 172. Plaintiff Vincent Roggio alleges that defendants William Grasmuck and Edward Bacener improperly obtained and disseminated his criminal record from a federal computer database in violation of CORI. 1 The case was tried to the Court without a jury from September 23 to 26,...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON DEFENDANTS' MOTIONS TO DISMISS SAYLOR, District Judge. This is an action arising from a home mortgage foreclosure. Plaintiffs Paul and Tami George have brought suit against various mortgage company defendants, contending that the foreclosure on of one of their properties was illegal. The named defendants are Stonebridge Mortgage Company, LLC; American Mortgage Network, Inc.; JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. ("Chase"); Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. ("MERS")...
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW SAYLOR, District Judge. This is a petition under the International Child Abduction Remedies Act ("ICARA"), 42 U.S.C. 11601, and the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction, Oct. 25, 1980, T.I.A.S. N. 11,670, 1343 U.N.T.S. 89, reprinted in 51 Fed. Ref. 10,494 (Mar. 26, 1986) ("the Hague Convention"). Petitioner Francelly Sanchez Londono is the mother of E.G., a minor child. Respondent Nelson Gonzalez is E.G.'s father. Petitioner...
