At the onset of starting a business, you need to make sure to structure the business in a way that makes sense for your needs. Each type of business structure comes with its own unique set of tax and legal implications. This makes it imperative for an owner to fully...
Talk to most about buying commercial real estate in Boston and you are bound to hear many of the positives, including additional cash flow and a more open buying market than one may see with residential real estate. However, even though there are certainly many...
A recent case brought before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is highlighting some of the pitfalls developers can find themselves facing when trying to get a project plan approved and moving forward. While this case highlights the fact that not all cases can...
While banks are attempting to take advantage of Boston's commercial real estate market, there are concerns regarding another possible real estate bubble. Lending by the Boston area's 25 largest banks has risen by approximately 40 percent over the past three years. The...
In Christakis v. D'Arc, 471 Mass. 365 (2015), the SJC addressed the interplay between Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code, judicial liens on real property, and the interplay between state and federal law. Specifically, the issue on appeal was "whether judicial liens on...
We have repeatedly posted about the so-called Derelict Fee Statute, G. L. c. 183, § 58, in the past here at P & A. One aspect of the statute that we have not discussed is the interplay between the statute, which governs ownership of private ways, and the use...
A few years ago, we posted a piece on easement essentials and types of appurtenant easements. Expanding on that theme, this post focuses on the concept of appurtenance and the inherent limitations it places on such use rights. As the prior post informed, appurtenant...
A few weeks ago, the Appeals Court issued a decision that potentially affects several landlocked parcels in Aquinnah (Gay Head) on Martha's Vineyard. As a result of this decision (Kitras v. Town of Aquinnah, 87 Mass. App. Ct. 10 (2015)), which reversed and remanded a...
Initially, this post was going to be about the substantive portions of the disputed claims in Perry v. Nemira, 2015 WL 179045, 11 MISC 457157 (AHS) (Mass. Land Ct. Jan. 15, 2015), which focused primarily on claims of right via prescriptive easements and adverse...
"'It is a principle of general application in Anglo-American jurisprudence that one is not bound by a judgment in personam in a litigation in which he is not designated as a party or to which he has not been made a party by service of process.'" Taylor v. Sturgell,...
