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Results driven.

Legal Developments

EMPLOYMENT LAW

Retaliation for Personnel Files

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s recently issued an important decision granting a terminated employee the right to pursue a retaliation-wrongful termination claim against his employer for exercising the right to file a rebuttal to be included in his personnel file as provided by G. L. c. 149, § 52C, which controls how employers maintain personnel files in the Commonwealth.  In Meehan v. Medical Information Technology, Inc., No. SJC-13117, Meehan who was an at-will employee was terminated after he sent his supervisor a rebuttal to having been placed on a performance improvement plan.  Meehan filed suit against the employer Meditech for wrongful discharge in violation of public policy. The Superior Court Department, Norfolk County granted Meditech’s motion to dismiss.  Meehan then appealed to the Massachusetts Appeals Court which affirmed. Meehan then filed application for further review, which was granted by the Supreme Judicial Court.

Results

Dawn M. Piccirilli and Michael R. O’Loughlin recently obtained a defense verdict following a week long jury trial in Barnstable County. This case arose from the breakdown of an intimate and business relationship between an auto-mechanic and his girlfriend who worked together at his auto repair business and who lived together in a home owned by her parents. The auto-mechanic and his business were the plaintiffs. The girlfriend and her parents were the defendants. The plaintiffs brought 26 claims against the defendants. Dawn Piccirilli of Boyle Shaughnessy Law represented the defendants.

The plaintiffs claimed that the defendants promised that if he performed excavation and construction work at the property in furtherance of a renovation project that included the construction of an addition on the home and of a three-car garage, he would be permitted to relocate his business to the property, operate it there out of the newly constructed garage, and to purchase the property once the renovation was complete for the amount the property was initially purchased by the parents. He claimed further that he performed extensive excavation and construction work at the property for a period of approximately two and a half years and that he was then thrown off the property, without any compensation for the work he performed, in breach of their agreement, and resulting in the defendants being unjustly enriched. In addition, he claimed that the daughter stole money from his business and kept his personal property. The plaintiffs’ claims against the defendants included breach of fiduciary duty, interference with advantageous business relationship, money had and received, deceit, conversion, breach of contract, quantum meruit/implied in fact contract, and unjust enrichment.

Our Firm

A group of Boyle | Shaughnessy employees recently volunteered with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Boston.  The group assisted with building the interior of a multi-unit home in Malden.  We unloaded nearly 10 tons of drywall through the second story windows of the home.  It was heavy work, but a great day of teamwork and giving back to our community.