Nelson G. Apjohn

Notable Experience and Client Impact

• Nelson represented Thomas P. Jalkut, as Trustee of the Adams Temple and School Fund, in the Massachusetts Superior Court and Appeals Court in a dispute with the City of Quincy over the ownership of an acre and half parcel located in the City. The City contended that President John Adams had conveyed the land in 1822 outright to the City and not in trust for the Fund, while the City served as a predecessor Trustee of the Fund. The City took the parcel in 2021 by eminent domain, clearing title to the parcel going forward, but leaving the dispute as to ownership and the right to compensation at the time of the taking. The Fund contended it was entitled to just compensation as owner the parcel, which the City disputed. The issue was resolved by litigation, with the Superior Court entering judgment on the pleadings in favor of Trustee Jalkut on the issue of ownership, allowing the Fund to be compensated for the taking. The Appeals Court affirmed the judgment on appeal. Thomas P. Jalkut, Trustee v. City of Quincy, 104 Mass. App. Ct. 138 (2024).

• In November 2019, a Nutter trial team received a jury verdict in their favor for Nutter’s client, a Big Four accounting firm. Nutter’s client was alleged to have committed accounting malpractice for not detecting a fraud during the course of its annual audits. The plaintiff was seeking approximately $30 million in alleged actual and punitive damages. After a three-week trial in the Business Litigation Session of the Massachusetts Superior Court, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Nutter’s client and the judge dismissed all remaining claims. Nutter’s trial team included Ian Roffman, Nelson Apjohn, and Melanie Woodward, and they tried the case with co-counsel George Salter of Hogan Lovells (NY).

• Nelson represented The Commerce Insurance Company, the largest vehicle insurer in Massachusetts, in a putative class action claiming that its policy and Massachusetts regulations required Commerce to pay sales tax when settling a total-loss claim made by a third-party claimant, who fails to show that he or she incurred a sales tax purchasing a replacement vehicle. He argued the summary judgment motion before the Superior Court, which granted the motion and entered judgment in favor of Commerce. Nelson also successfully argued on behalf of Commerce the plaintiff’s appeal before the Massachusetts Court of Appeals, which affirmed the judgment. Ramirez v. Commerce Ins. Co., 91 Mass. App. Ct. 144 (2017).
• An automotive products liability trial in 2016 against Hyundai Motor America, involving a claim that the brake and accelerator pedal configuration of an automobile was conducive to simultaneous depression of the pedals and unintended acceleration, resulting in serious personal injuries. After a seven-day trial, the jury returned a defense verdict in favor of Nelson’s client, Hyundai Motor America.
• An eminent domain trial involving the Sagamore Flyover Highway Project, which was one of the top ten verdicts in Massachusetts in 2011, according to Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. A jury awarded damages of $2.1 million to the plaintiff landowners after a two-week trial.
• An eminent domain trial resulting in a $4.15 million verdict for the plaintiff landowner in a case involving the taking of land at the Sagamore Rotary; a verdict that Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly reported was among the top ten verdicts in Massachusetts in 2010. (A retrial in 2015 resulted in a verdict of $5.33 million for the plaintiff landowner.)
• A trial in 2010 in the Business Session of the Massachusetts Superior Court resulting in a judgment in excess of $3 million on behalf of a bank, as a secured creditor, against a construction company. In addition to the trial, Nelson successfully argued the appeal and the bank’s cross-appeal before the Supreme Judicial Court, ultimately resulting in a judgment in excess of $7.6 million, including interest. Reading Co-operative Bank v. Suffolk Construction Company, Inc., 464 Mass. 543 (2013). Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly chose this decision as one of the most important commercial decisions of 2013.
• Boone v. Commerce Insurance Company, 451 Mass. 192 (2008), which Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly selected as one of the most important insurance opinions of 2008. The case was an appeal that Nelson successfully argued before the Supreme Judicial Court, reversing a summary judgment and Appeals Court affirmance.
• The successful appeal before the Supreme Judicial Court on behalf of a Massachusetts motor vehicle insurer in a putative class action, overturning a lower court summary judgment holding that the Massachusetts standard motor vehicle policy provided collision coverage for so-called "inherent diminished value," in Given v. Commerce Insurance Company, 440 Mass. 207 (2003). Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly ranked the decision as one of the ten most important decisions of 2003.

A leader in the legal industry, Nelson is involved in numerous professional organizations:

• American College of Trial Lawyers, Fellow and Massachusetts State Committee Chair
• Litigation Counsel of America, Senior Fellow
• Standing Advisory Committee on the Rules of Civil Procedure of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, chair
• Boston Inn of Court, former member, co-president for the 2015-2016 term, and a former member of its Executive Committee
• New England Legal Foundation, member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee
• Boston Bar Association, member
• International Association of Defense Counsel, member
• Defense Research Institute, member

Nelson has lectured at continuing legal education programs for civil litigation and authored various legal works, including:

• Editor, Massachusetts Superior Court Civil Practice Manual, and contributing co-author of “Dispositive Motions” chapter (6th ed. 2023)
• “Product Liability” chapter supplement in the Massachusetts Superior Court Civil Practice Jury Instructions (J. D. Lipchitz et al. eds., 3rd ed., 2^nd Supp. 2018), co-author with Superior Court Judge Hon. Maynard M. Kirpalani
• Further Discovery of Expert Witnesses Under Massachusetts Rule of Civil Procedure 26, 88 Mass. L. Rev. 197 (2004)
• Expert Evidence, A Practitioner’s Guide to Law, Science, and the FJC Manual (Bert Black & Patrick W. Lee eds. 1997), contributing author
• Post-“Daubert” Admissibility of Expert Testimony on Mechanical Design and Engineering Issues, 23 Prod. Safety & Liab. Rep. (BNA) 553 (1995), co-author with S. M. Quill
• “Consider Legal Issues in Software Buys,” Mass High Tech, author
• “Internet Property Protection Derives from an Arcane Source,” Mass High Tech, author

During law school, Nelson served as the managing editor and articles editor of the Boston College Law Review.