Massachusetts Business Litigation Legal Questions

There may be different rules in different jurisdictions, and the answer may also differ depending on the particular material being sought and the burden of producing it, but in general the fact that a party has copies of the documents he/she is seeking is not a valid objection to production (although, to be fair, I see lawyers raising such an objection all time.)  How can Dick possibly know that he has all the emails and one wasn't accidentially deleted?  How can he be sure that Joe will not claim that some other email was exchanged between them, or that he never received some relevant emails?  Of course, if you're talking about thousands of emails here so that the cost of searching and producing them was truly prohibitive, the answer might be different, but as a general matter, I think Joe would have to produce the emails.... Read More

There is a deadline.  I'm not sure what it is in Massachusetts, but it is unlikely to be more than 11 months, so you are probably too late.  You should call the clerk of the appellate court to check.  If you waited too long, it is possible that the Court may allow you to file late since it will already be hearing 2 appeals from the same case already, but I think it's a long shot.  The Court may or may not entertain oral argument beyond the briefs, but there should not be any new hearing or presentation of evidence.  An appeal considers only legal arguments that, based on what was before the lower court, it made an error of law.... Read More

It is really not possible to provide a definitive answer to this question. It depends on the nature of the recall and whether the problem is ulimately fixable. While a week seems like an excruciatingly long time to you, it is not in the eyes of the law (most people keep cars three years or longer), and the loss of the car for a mere week is not enough to trigger your state's lemon law.... Read More

The general idea of small claims is that the parties are customarily unrepresented. That is because the claims are small, and lawyers are expensive. Most attorneys will not take a matter unless they can be assured of receiving a certain minimum amount of income from that matter -- frequently thousands of dollars or more. Wouldn't it make more sense to put your scarce dollars into trying the settle the dispute?... Read More