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To our readers: Welcome to the new Exhibit A website. For over a year, we’ve been providing Massachusetts with news about the law that is relevant, useful, and interesting. With our new site, you can more easily view our content, and also enjoy new video and blog features. In addition, we want to know what you need to know about the law. Got a question... More

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The law of the beach

By Jeannie Greeley Summertime. The word alone makes one want to strip down, throw some bottles on ice, hit the water and take part in the warm-weather debauchery that prevails over New England from solstice through Labor Day. But along with all that fun in the sun comes a host of rules and regulations governing the water and the sand. And unless... More

Not everything comes up roses for landscaper seeking payment in court

If you join in your boyfriend’s or girlfriend’s contract with a third person, you could find that all is not lovey-dovey. That’s the lesson a Tyngsborough couple learned recently after a Massachusetts judge issued a ruling in their case. The man and woman decided to move in together in when their romance became serious. They soon found that their yard needed work, so they hired a landscaper. After the landscaper beautified the yard, the couple became dissatisfied with his gardening... More

Legal briefs

Vulgarity not enough to uphold conviction How obnoxious can someone be in public without committing disorderly conduct? Extremely obnoxious, according to a decision from the state’s Appeals Court. In Commonwealth v. Mallahan, the court found that a man should not have been convicted of disorderly conduct for his “rantings” while police were arresting him. The outburst included “warnings that he would sue the officers, as well as loud protestations interlaced with profanities... More

Dispute over customer’s bill could end up costing NSTAR

A Dorchester man has discovered that, even if you pay your bill, NSTAR might say you didn’t. Gregory J. Duarte, a former high school history teacher, says he always paid his gas and electric bills on his property in Dorchester. But in 2005, NSTAR filed a lawsuit against him in Dorchester District Court, claiming that Duarte owed the utility... More

Four’s company, five’s a crowd — by zoning officials’ count; Landlords take on city over new roomate policy

By Ted Siefer “A bunch of fascists,” muttered a supporter of the plaintiffs as she exited a Boston courtroom of the Land Court recently. Presumably she was referring to city officials and their new policy prohibiting landlords from renting apartments, regardless of their size, to more than four undergraduate students. Those plaintiffs - four... More

7 TIPS for Switching to Digital TV in ‘09

by WHDH’s Hank Phillippi Ryan and Mary Schwager Will there be an expensive glitch in your switch to digital TV next February? If you’re still fuzzy on the process, you could be tuning in to trouble. No matter what kind of television you have, the change should not cost you big bucks. We shopped undercover... More

State’s Top 10 busiest District Courts offer venue for rich, famous, quirky

While there is no perfect science for calculating which court in Massachusetts is the busiest, Exhibit A has compiled a list of those District Courts that have handled the most criminal cases from 2005 to 2007. 1. Springfield District Court: 38,355 criminal cases This court has heard more criminal cases than any other in Massachusetts since... More

Man charged with stealing 170 garden gnomes

A 53-year-old Frenchman has been charged with stealing 170 garden gnomes from backyards in the Bretagne area. Police discovered the gnomes carefully arranged in the man’s 200-square-foot garden. Many had been repainted, making it difficult for authorities to reunite them with the dozens of owners who had filed missing-gnome reports. A rash... More

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