Sarah P. Kelly

Sarah Kelly was part of the Nutter team that represented many engineers involved with civil and criminal litigation arising from a major Boston construction project.

Sarah Kelly was part of a team that secured a defense verdict for its client after a four-week jury trial in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. A major European luxury hotel brought suit against Nutter’s client based on the client’s alleged connection to a significant fire at the hotel. The hotel claimed that the client was responsible for this fire because one of the client’s guests, a customer, negligently discarded a cigarette in her hotel room.

After four years of discovery and motion practice, Nutter presented its case to a jury, demonstrating not only that its client was not negligent but that the hotel’s fire safety practices were inadequate. The trial lasted four weeks, while the jury deliberated for less than a day before rendering a verdict entirely in favor of Nutter’s client. 

Sarah Kelly has successfully represented a managing director of a private equity firm against breach of fiduciary duty claims. The claims, brought by various plaintiffs, have been litigated before both state and federal courts in California, and Nutter has successfully defended its client before all of them, including the Supreme Court of California. They arose out of the client’s position as an outside director of a California health-care company that eventually went bankrupt. The cases have all been resolved in the client’s favor, as a result of successful motions to dismiss and motions for summary judgment.

Sarah Kelly has been part of a team of Nutter attorneys that represented a state university in an internal investigation and a related investigation by the Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General. The investigation has involved witness interviews, significant document analysis, and complex legal research. The investigation centers around issues concerning health care law and state government procurement regulations.

Sarah Kelly represented an executive of a local technology and market research company in an SEC investigation. The SEC was investigating the company and a number of high-level executives in connection with the company’s practice of dating options. The client testified before the SEC, but after the testimony, the SEC determined not to bring formal charges against the client.