Knowing the law on goat cheese and impure lard

david.yas@exhibitAnews.com This month our cover story deals with ways you may be breaking the law without even knowing it. Massachusetts has its share of obscure laws. They’re mostly harmless, as no one, for example, is interested in throwing you in jail for scaring pigeons. Yet, the statute is on the books. Some of these dusty old laws provide for interesting reading. The other day I cracked open the General Laws and learned that it is illegal to “knowingly efface, alter or cover …... More

No legal problems seen with gigantic banana over Texas

No legal problems seen with gigantic banana over Texas A Canadian group that plans to launch an enormous banana into low earth orbit such that it will be visible for a month from anywhere in the State of Texas says there are no legal impediments to its plans. The banana will actually be an enormous blimp-like structure, shaped and painted to look like a piece of fruit. The group says it will be visible throughout Texas both day and night. The group, which has received funding from the Canada Council... More

Show me the contract

david.frank@exhibitAnews.com With teams like the Boston Red Sox, Bruins, Celtics and New England Patriots shelling out, on average, more than $2.3 million a year to each of the players on their rosters, it is not surprising that the written contracts memorializing the details of those agreements have evolved into complicated legal documents. While many of the provisions in a professional sports contract focus on the off-the-field activities of athletes, Boston attorney Brad Blank, who is considered... More

Some MAD(D) in wake of Melanie’s Law

“Melanie’s Law.” Named for Melanie Powell, a 13-year-old Marshfield girl struck down and killed in 2003 by a repeat drunk driver, this tough-minded anti-OUI measure had defense attorneys and victims’ advocates at each others’ throats before it was signed into law in the fall of 2005. After a few early success stories about its enforcement, Melanie’s Law slipped off the front pages of newspapers and the public’s attention turned elsewhere. But what has happened... More

State registry keeps track of records on sexual offenders

 david.frank at exhibitAnews.com A controversial law on the books in Massachusetts requires individuals convicted of certain sexual crimes to register with the state Sex Offender Registry Board, or SORB. Under the law, a sex offender is “any person who resides, works or attends an institution of higher learning in the Commonwealth and who has been convicted of a sex offense.” According to the Executive Office of Public Safety, currently more than 9,300 of these people are registered... More

Should casino gambling be allowed in Massachusetts?

“No. We have enough avenues for gambling as it is. When you legalize something, you create more opportunities to do it, and the majority of people who gamble are in over their heads. We don’t need to institutionalize more vices.” — David Smith Somerville “I don’t think so. We have enough people who play ‘scratch tickets’ and lottery games. Having a casino would just make it worse.” — Xiomara Dominguez Hyde Park   “Yes, as long... More

Look back in time (1971)

Attorneys involved in the Charles Street Jail case in 1971 expected the lawsuit to last a couple of years. Instead, the litigation would span nearly three decades, rattling state officials and affecting prison conditions nationwide along the way. In 1973, federal Judge W. Arthur Garrity found that conditions at Boston's Charles Street Jail amounted to "punishment" in violation of pretrial detainees' 14th Amendment due-process rights and ordered the facility closed. As it turned... More

Legal Briefs

Iranian-born banker wins $1M in bias suit President Bush, among other Americans, may see Iran as part of an "axis of evil," but that view does not give an employer in this country the right to discriminate against someone born there. That's the message a Norfolk County jury sent to a defendant bank (previously, Fleet National Bank) when it awarded one of its former "top performers" $1 million in damages after he sued for discrimination based on national origin. The plaintiff,... More

It's all business for this judge

Allan van Gestel was named a Superior Court judge in 1996. Since 2000, he has been presiding over that court's Business Litigation Session in the Suffolk County Courthouse in downtown Boston. He plans to continue to do so until he retires from the bench at the end of this year. He recently spoke with Exhibit A's Noah Schaffer about attending to business in his session. Q. Why was the Business Litigation Session set up? A. It was set up because Superior Court judges move around from one court... More

Are YOU breaking the law [without even knowing it]?

It's not every day you aim a .25-caliber semi-automatic pistol at the temple of your lover's wife and fire away — as Amy Fisher, a.k.a. the "Long Island Lolita," did to Mary Jo Buttafuoco back in 1992. But chances are you're violating the law on a daily basis without realizing it. Exhibit A has set out to determine the more commonly committed, yet little-known, offenses that otherwise law-abiding citizens of Massachusetts are guilty of day in and day out.   COPYRIGHT (17... More

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