BLS Blog

In Butts, et al. v. Freedman, et al., Judge Sanders ruled that the language of a Massachusetts LLC operating agreement—disclaiming any “partnership” or “joint venture” relationship between the LLC members—did not bar an LLC member from pursuing a claim for breach of fiduciary duty against another LLC member. The language at issue, according to Judge Sanders, did not constitute “a clear and unequivocal elimination of one member’s fiduciary responsibility to another.”

Overriding a Massachusetts forum-selection provision found in an employment agreement, Judge Salinger ruled in Oxford Global Resources, LLC v. Hernandez that an employer’s litigation against a former employee belonged in California, not Massachusetts.

Judge Salinger addressed an issue that divides federal district courts: Do state courts have subject matter jurisdiction over covered class actions under the Securities Act of 1933? Judge Salinger answered, in Fortunato v. Akebia Therapeutics, Inc., et al., that state courts have concurrent jurisdiction over these claims.

This summer, the Boston Bar Association hosted its annual “Business Litigation Session Year in Review.” The current BLS bench—Judges Sanders, Salinger, Kaplan, and Liebensperger—shared tips for attorneys practicing in the BLS. Here are four takeaways from that event:

Assertions made solely on “information and belief” are insufficient support for a preliminary-injunction motion. That’s the key takeaway from Judge Salinger’s decision in Governo Law Firm LLC v. CMBG3 Law LLC.

The Governo Law Firm alleged that six former partners, who left to start another firm, misappropriated proprietary databases and electronic files. Judge Salinger denied the Governo Law Firm’s preliminary-injunction motion, which sought the return of the databases and files.

Judge Leibensperger decertified a class of current and former employees of Federal Management Co., Inc. (Federal), who alleged that Federal failed to pay them overtime, after post-certification discovery revealed that the named plaintiffs were not adequate class representatives.

Two years ago, the court certified a class of “all current and former Property Managers” employed by Federal from January 1, 2005 to the present under Mass. R. Civ. P. 23. While these Property Managers were paid a salary and annual bonus, they were not paid for overtime hours worked because Federal designated a Property Manager “as a bona fide executive, or administrative or professional person earning more than eighty dollars per week” in accordance with G.L.C. 151, s. 1A. Thus, Federal argued that these employees were exempt from receiving overtime pay.