Suffolk University Law School, in cooperation with the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, maintains this site in order to make oral arguments before the Supreme Judicial Court accessible to the general public.
Next Oral Arguments will be live streamed starting at 9am on April 7th.
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Summary: Landlord-Tenant-- Whether a Massachusetts statute that prevents a landlord from deducting amounts for reasonable wear and tear from a tenant's security deposit is violated where the landlord charged the tenant for painting and cleaning upon vacating the premises; whether a lease provision requiring a tenant to have the premises cleaned professionally or pay for cleaning at the end of a tenancy violates Massachusetts law.
Summary: Employment Law -- Whether a retention bonus earned by an employee is deemed to be an earned wage under the Massachusetts Wage Act such that non-payment of the bonus upon the employee's termination is a violation of the Wage Act.
Summary: unavailable
Summary: Insurance Law-- The plaintiff is seeking to recover charges for storage of a vehicle insured by the defendant where the police ordered the vehicle to be towed to the plaintiff's garage after it crashed into a restaurant and the vehicle remained at the garage during the pendency of a criminal prosecution against the driver.
Summary: Bail-- The defendant is appealing a decision of a Superior Court judge increasing his bail in light of the defendant's potential deportation from the United States.
Summary: Retirement Law-- The plaintiff, convicted of embezzlement from an agency receiving federal funds, is arguing that forfeiture of his state police pension is unconstitutional.
Summary: Bar Discipline-- An attorney charged with disciplinary violations, including failure to maintain proper IOLTA account records and misuse of client or third-party funds, is appealing a Single Justice's judgment that he be disbarred.
Summary: Criminal-- The defendant is appealing a conviction of murder and the denial of his motion for new trial.
Summary: Criminal-- Various issues arising out of a drug prosecution, including whether the admission of evidence from a substitute analyst that a sample was a controlled substance violated the defendant's constitutional right of confrontation where the analyst who conducted the testing did not testify.
Summary: Criminal-- The defendant, convicted of various felony offenses, is claiming violation of his right to a speedy trial; his argument deals with the impact of the tolling provisions of COVID-19 orders that suspended time periods to bring him to trial.
Summary: Criminal; Sentencing-- This case raises questions about resentencing of a defendant who was 19 years old at the time of the crime and was serving concurrent life sentences without the possibility of parole in light of a decision of the Supreme Judicial Court prohibiting such a sentence where the crime was committed by an emerging adult.
Summary: Criminal; Operating a Motor Vehicle-- Whether the evidence was sufficient to show that the defendant operated a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol where he was sitting in the driver's seat of a van in which he had been living and that was located in a beach parking lot.
