Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Decisions 2023
Date: March 17, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13358
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the judgment of a single justice of the court denying Petitioner's petition filed under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 249, 5 seeking relief in the nature of mandamus, holding that the single…
Date: March 16, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13245
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the order of the superior court judge allowing the State police's motion for summary judgment and denying Plaintiff's request for back pay under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 30, 59 (the Perry…
Date: March 16, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13308
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case concerning the term "physical abuse" as used in an "abuse and molestation" policy exclusion the Supreme Judicial Court reversed the order of the superior court granting summary judgment in favor of Insurer…
Date: March 14, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13326
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case concerning the scope of rights conveyed by a set of burial certificates, as sold by a church to its parishioners, the Supreme Judicial Court held that the burial certificates' unambiguous language permitted…
Date: March 10, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13243
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the order finding Probationer in violation of his probation, revoking his probation and imposing the remainder of his suspended sentence, holding that the evidence was sufficient to…
Date: March 10, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13287
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Judicial Court held that when an otherwise qualifying entity sells an urban redevelopment project during the forty-year tax window set forth in Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 121A, 18C, the tax concession extends to the…
Date: March 8, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13331
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the order of the trial judge granting the motion for judgment on the pleadings filed by the New England Police Benevolent Association, Inc., Local 192 (NEPBA), denying the city of…
Date: March 7, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13284
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Judicial Court reversed the judgment of the superior court against Plaintiffs and directed the court to enter a judgment declaring the "public comment policy" of the town of Southborough…
Date: March 7, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13327
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Judicial Court held that the single justice of the county court neither erred nor abused his discretion by denying, without a hearing, Petitioner's petition for relief under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 211, 3,…
Date: February 28, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13253
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the judgment of the superior court judge denying Defendant's motion to enforce a plea bargain, holding that the plea offer did not violate Defendant's rights to due process. Defendant…
Date: February 28, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13254
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Judicial Court remanded this matter to the county court for entry of an order dismissing the Commonwealth's gatekeeper petition filed under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 278, 33E challenging the decision of the…
Date: February 24, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-11375
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the judgment of the motion judge allowing Defendant's motion for a new trial after the trial court convicted him of murder in the first degree, holding that the motion judge did not…
Date: February 24, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13277
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Judicial Court vacated the order of the trial judge granting Defendant's motion to dismiss his criminal case for lack of prosecution and requiring the Commonwealth to file a motion to vacate it if decided to…
Date: February 22, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-11667
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's convictions for murder in the first degree on the theory of deliberate premeditation and related charges, holding that there was no reversible error in this Court's review of…
Date: February 22, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-12758
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the judgment of a single justice of the court denying Petitioner's petition pursuant to Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 211, 3, holding that the single justice did not err or abuse her discretion…
Date: February 17, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-12751
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed Defendant's conviction of murder in the first degree on the theory of extreme atrocity or cruelty and his sentence of life without the possibility of parole, holding that Defendant's…
Date: February 16, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13286
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the housing court's entry of judgment in favor of Landlord in this landlord-tenant dispute and the denial of Tenant's motion to revise, revoke, or vacate that judgment, holding that…
Date: February 14, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13043
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's convictions of two counts of murder in the first degree, holding that this Court's precedent on reasonable provocation based on sudden oral revelations of infidelity, and,…
Date: February 14, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13372
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Judicial Court dismissed Appellant's appeal from a judgment of the county court denying, without a hearing, Appellant's petition for extraordinary relief under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 211, 3, holding that the…
Date: February 9, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13345
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Judicial Court held that the presumptive ninety-day time limit on pretrial detention set forth in Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 276, 58B begins to run at the time an individual is detained, regardless of whether a…
Date: February 8, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-10476
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's conviction of murder in the first degree on a theory of deliberate premeditation and declined to exercise its authority under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 33E either to reduce the verdict or…
Date: February 2, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13325
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case concerning the law involving breach of an exclusive real estate broker agreement, the Supreme Judicial Court held that an enforceable contract was created in this case, Defendants committed a breach of that…
Date: January 27, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13179
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Judicial Court remanded these consolidated cases seeking a judgment declaring the parties' respective rights to each of the remainder proceeds of two annuity contracts, holding that the cases were governed in…
Date: January 27, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13199
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Judicial Court reversed the order of the superior court allowing Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment in this lawsuit brought against the Executive Office of Health and Human Services and Nationwide Life…
Date: January 24, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13215
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court denying Defendant's motion for a new trial following his conviction for murder in the first degree by means of extreme atrocity or cruelty and on the…
Date: January 12, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13281
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the decision of a single justice of the court denying Petitioner's petition for extraordinary relief pursuant to Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 211, 3, holding that the trial justice did not…
Date: January 6, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13303
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Judicial Court held that there is no common-law duty for insurers to cover costs incurred by an insured to prevent imminent covered loss when the plain, unambiguous terms of the insurance policy speak…
Date: January 5, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13071
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case involving Salvatore F. DiMasi's attempt to register as a lobbyist with the Secretary of the Commonwealth, the Supreme Judicial Court held that Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 3, 45 (m) ("the disqualification provision")…
Date: January 4, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13170
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the decision of the juvenile court judge denying Juvenile's motion to suppress evidence of a seized firearm on the grounds that police did not have reasonable suspicion to stop her,…
Date: January 3, 2023
Docket Number: SJC-13269
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the decision of the district court granting summary judgment in favor of Seller in this case stemming from the economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, holding that there…
