IN THIS ISSUE 

by Matt Yas

In the legal jungle of insurance policies, life insurance is its own, mysterious animal.

“No — for health reasons. People might be allergic. Unless it’s an outdoor restaurant — that’s OK; but not indoors.”

by By Michael Conway

During the pre-dawn hours of July 4, 1984, a deadly fire engulfed the Elliot Chambers Rooming House in Beverly, leaving 15 dead in its wake.

A woman who once worked as director of Cambridge’s police review board has been awarded $4.5 million by a jury that found the city retaliated against her after she filed a discrimination complaint in 1998.

by Julia Reischel

Lining the walls of Jack and Josephine Wallace’s garage in Milton are more than 40 boxes full of paper they have cried over. Documents fill folders in their bedroom and next to their dining room table where Jack, weakened by skin cancer, can easily reach them. Consulting them regularly, he spends his days making calls and writing memos on behalf of his stepson, Alfred W. Trenkler, who was convicted of building a bomb that killed a police officer and maimed another in Roslindale almost two decades ago.

On May 17, 2004, the first same-sex couple to be married legally in the United States obtained their marriage license in Massachusetts, thanks to the 2003 Supreme Judicial Court decision in Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health.
 
Four years later to the week, on May 15, 2008, the California Supreme Court rejected that state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

Amid the furor behind the specific allegations of President Bush’s ex-White House press secretary Scott McClellan, and the ensuing fallout with his former friends and with Bush, lies an important question: Should there be a legal limit on what a communications official or press secretary can say about his former boss?

by Julia Reischel

Despite their attention to accessibility, the designers of the new Moakley courthouse’s interior spaces, however, apparently did not factor into their plans Americans’ widening waistlines. These cramped quarters are evident when a court staffer turns to the reporters near the door to Courtroom 22 and explains that getting the 100 potential jurors seated comfortably in the wooden rows of benches used for jury selection will not be easy.

A male stripper who dresses as a cop can use a billy club in his act, a British court has ruled.

Facebook will restrict the ability of users to change their listed ages, more aggressively remove inappropriate content and provide “safety messaging” where there is a risk of a user under 18 revealing personal information to an unknown adult, according to an agreement the popular online networking site reached with 50 state attorneys general. Massachusetts AG Martha Coakley was among that group.

An entire film crew — producer, actors, cameramen, etc. — was arrested while shooting a porn film in a Japanese McDonald’s at 3 in the afternoon on a Wednesday.

The Florida Senate has voted to make it illegal to attach fake bull testicles to trailer hitches on pickup trucks.

Massachusetts has had its fair share of court cases that have made headlines. But which are the ones that have truly affected the citizens of the commonwealth? Exhibit A has compiled a list of the five cases from the last decade that have  had the biggest impact on the community.

Despite defense arguments that marijuana should be legal in Massachusetts, an editor from a leading pro-cannabis magazine and a lawyer from Washington, D.C., have learned firsthand that some in Boston feel otherwise.

If you are hiring a contractor, you should know that he will have some unusual rights against you if something goes awry with the project.

A 21-year-old man was arrested after he walked into a bank in Fort Worth, Texas, and tried to cash a check for $360 billion.

by Thomas E. Egan

The “Extra-Terrestrial Exposure Law” has nothing to do with pervs from outer space. Rather, it authorizes a quarantine for astronauts who come within the “atmospheric envelope of any other celestial body.”

by Paul Lamoureux

If someone in your family is hurt or killed in a car accident, you may be able to sue the at-fault driver’s doctor — if that physician failed to warn the driver of the hazards of taking certain prescription drugs before getting behind the wheel.

How does the court go about putting a price tag on damages in wrongful-death cases? Is a case involving the death of a child worth more than a case involving an adult?

There’s a new law that allows insurance companies to compete for your business. Sounds like good news, right? Well, we found some drivers will indeed pay less, but some will actually pay more!
How can you make sure you’re getting the best deal possible? Let us help steer you in the right direction.

Most lawyers are not conniving backstabbers.
Forget what you may have heard. Sure, the profession (like any) has its bad eggs.

by By Diane Sullivan and Holly Vietzke

Romance. Grace. Sport.
 
Horse racing has a rich tradition in our country. As we watch this “Sport of Kings” on television, we are treated to images of women in extravagant hats and garb, men in splendid tailored suits and children lovingly coiffed and attired.

A Springfield woman who claimed her doctor permanently injured her after he fell on her during a drunken stumble has been awarded $6 million.