18 results for 'judge:"Wendlandt"'.
J. Wendlandt upholds the denial of a juvenile’s motion to dismiss a care and protection case to give her father permanent custody over her. A custody order, without the care and protection case, is not sufficient for the father to maintain custody because the default custody arrangement for nonmarital children is for the mother to have custody. Affirmed.
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Court, Judge: Wendlandt, Filed On: April 17, 2024, Case #: SJC-13494, Categories: Family Law, Juvenile Law
J. Wendlandt determines the allocation of over 98% percent of a divorcing couple’s marital liabilities to alimony is not an equitable division of the couple’s marital estate. It is appropriate to consider a couple’s regular contributions to their savings plans when determining alimony. Reversed.
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Court, Judge: Wendlandt, Filed On: March 7, 2024, Case #: SJC-13473, Categories: Family Law, Partnerships
J. Wendlandt denies the defendant’s motion for a new trial, after he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after he and two others attempted to rob a victim, who fought back and then was shot and killed by the defendant. The court decided not to apply its abolition of felony-murder, as an independent theory of liability for murder in the first and second degrees, retroactively to the defendant’s case or any other case. This does not violate his equal protection rights because, even though the theory was abolished for disproportionately adversely affecting racial minorities, its impact cannot be “traced to a discriminatory purpose.” Affirmed.
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Court, Judge: Wendlandt, Filed On: February 22, 2024, Case #: SJC-12405, Categories: Murder, Robbery, Equal Protection
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J. Wendlandt determines that enforcement of a Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act lien against a MassHealth member is only allowed if the property encumbered by the lien is sold during the member’s lifetime. However, the three-year statute of repose of the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code does not retroactively bar MassHealth from recouping medical benefits from a member who died before the probate code became effective.
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Court, Judge: Wendlandt, Filed On: December 13, 2023, Case #: SJC-13439, Categories: Debt Collection, Health Care, Medicaid
J. Wendlandt vacates the defendant's convictions for first-degree murder, armed assault with intent to murder, and assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon after he allegedly killed a man in a drive-by shooting where he shot the man 11 times, and shot but did not kill the man's associate. There were no witnesses to the shooting who were able to identify defendant and the judge denied his request to conduct a voir dire examination of a witness who claimed to have seen him in a bluish-silver Nissan sedan near the crime scene 20-30 minutes before the shooting. Vacated.
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Court, Judge: Wendlandt, Filed On: November 16, 2023, Case #: SJC-12984, Categories: Evidence, Murder, Witnesses
J. Wendlandt affirms the dismissal of local housing authorities’ motion for a declaratory judgment based on the local housing authorities’ belief that their state government exceeds its authority by refusing to approve employment contracts between local housing authorities and their executive directors if they don’t adhere to Department of Housing and Community Development guidelines. Guidelines are not by definition necessarily optional. Guidelines can be mandatory and the use of the term guidelines in a statute rather than mandates does not imply that the statute carries less authority than if it did use the term mandates.
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Court, Judge: Wendlandt, Filed On: November 6, 2023, Case #: SJC-13412, Categories: Administrative Law, Government, Housing
J. Wendlandt reverses and remands a judgment against the Secretary of the Commonwealth for exceeding his authority by accusing a stock brokerage firm of not living up to its fiduciary duty by encouraging inexperienced investors to make risky investments. Rules in place to prevent the government from exceeding its authority through requiring firms to abide by standards as fiduciaries do not take priority over protecting investors. Reversed.
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Court, Judge: Wendlandt, Filed On: August 25, 2023, Case #: SJC-13381, Categories: Government, Fiduciary Duty, Banking / Lending
J. Wendlandt affirms the denial of a railroad company’s motion to dismiss prevailing wage claims brought against it by one of its employees. The company claims that the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act preempts the Prevailing Wage Act and that contractors who win bids to complete projects for Massachusetts don’t have to pay their employees prevailing wages if they are railroad companies, but this is not accurate.
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Court, Judge: Wendlandt, Filed On: August 14, 2023, Case #: SJC-13366, Categories: Employment, Preemption, Workers' Compensation
J. Wendlandt finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of murder and unlawful discharge of a firearm. While defendant was not properly notified that his interrogation would be recorded, it does not mean it should have been suppressed during his trial because he was advised that anything he said could and would be used against him in court. However, his conviction for unlawful possession is vacated. Affirmed in part.
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Court, Judge: Wendlandt, Filed On: July 25, 2023, Case #: SJC-12835, Categories: Evidence, Murder, Self Defense
J. Wendlandt finds the lower court properly refused to suppress evidence during defendant's trial for the murder of his 83-year-old father, whom he beat and suffocated. The arresting officers who approached defendant were acting within a community caretaking function, as defendant appeared to be stranded and suffering from a mental health crisis, and the officers were not aware at the time he was wanted in connection with the murder. Affirmed.
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Court, Judge: Wendlandt, Filed On: June 30, 2023, Case #: SJC-13134 , Categories: Constitution, Evidence, Murder
J. Wendlandt upholds the lower court's grant of summary judgment to a dealership on a pedestrian's negligence claims, which arose after she was struck by a car the dealership had provided as a courtesy to a customer while his vehicle was being repaired. The Graves Amendment, which protects rental car companies from being held vicariously liable for a driver's actions, protects the dealership, as the vehicle it loaned to the customer is considered a rental under the circumstances.
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Court, Judge: Wendlandt, Filed On: June 27, 2023, Case #: SJC-13378 , Categories: Vehicle, Negligence
J. Wendlandt upholds defendant's conviction of first-degree murder and felony murder for strangling and smothering his girlfriend. The trial court thoroughly addressed defense counsel's concerns about defendant's ability to stand trial and found him competent, and also properly instructed the jury. Affirmed.
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Court, Judge: Wendlandt, Filed On: May 25, 2023, Case #: SJC-13158, Categories: Competence, Murder
J. Wendlandt finds defendant's altered sentence must be vacated and his resentence, which was a reduced number of years in prison on indecent assault and battery convictions on a person with an intellectual disability, be reinstated. Although his resentence was illegally lower than the required minimum of years required for his convictions, the altered sentence violated double jeopardy principles. Reversed.
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Court, Judge: Wendlandt, Filed On: May 22, 2023, Case #: SJC-13294, Categories: Sentencing, Assault, Double Jeopardy
J. Wendlandt reverses the lower court's dismissal of indictments for misleading investigators in connection with an alleged cover-up of a fight in 2015 between off-duty officers and four black men outside of a bar. The alleged misstatements were due to a single, criminal intent to conceal the misconduct of the off-duty officers. Reversed.
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Court, Judge: Wendlandt, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: SJC-13353 , Categories: Criminal Procedure, Evidence