Under a longstanding doctrine known as legislative immunity, legislators are generally immune from liability for their official acts. A derivative doctrine, legislative privilege, creates a privilege against giving evidence on official legislative acts. Recently, in Abuzahra v. City of Cambridge, the Appeals Court formally recognized the legislative privilege… READ MORE
Any municipality must give notice of hearings on requests for zoning relief. Defective notice, however, does not necessarily send a municipality back to the drawing board. In a recent case, Markham v. Pittsfield Cellular Telephone Company, the Appeals Court concluded that regardless of whether Pittsfield had sent abutters notice… READ MORE
Airports are now one step closer to a new, PFAS-free firefighting foam with the Department of Defense’s announcement of a draft specification for an AFFF replacement. Civil airports use aqueous film-forming foam, or AFFF, to extinguish fires fueled by flammable liquids. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) establishes standards for the… READ MORE
Local issues get a national stage this spring as the Supreme Court considers three separate cases examining whether municipal actions complied with local governments’ obligations under the First Amendment to the US Constitution. Each of the cases will have important implications for local action relating to speech or religion. Sign… READ MORE
In St. Paul’s Foundation v. Ives, the First Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Town of Marblehead did not violate the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) when it declined to reinstate a suspended building permit to St. Paul’s Foundation and the Shrine of St. Nicholas… READ MORE
Over the weekend, Governor Baker signed a supplemental budget bill funding COVID-19-related items. The bill also addresses several other pandemic-related issues. Of greatest importance to towns are Sections 15 and 26, which give towns continued flexibility to modify their town meetings in light of the pandemic. Section 15 permits towns, upon a… READ MORE
Long-awaited guidance for municipalities concerning how to comply with new requirements under the Governor’s Housing Choice legislation have finally been issued by the Department of Health and Community Development (“DHCD”). General Laws Chapter 40A, Section 3A(a) (“Section 3A”) requires that all “MBTA Communities” have at least one zoning district of… READ MORE
On December 7, 2021, United States District Court Judge R. Stan Baker at the Southern District of Georgia granted Plaintiffs’ motion to enjoin the Biden administration “from enforcing the vaccine mandate for federal contractors and subcontractors in all covered contracts in any state or territory.” Specifically, the Court determined… READ MORE
The First Circuit recently delved into a mustier corner of the Public Records Law in United States v. Letter from Alexander Hamilton to the Marquis De Lafayette Dated July 21, 1780, shedding some light on how the Public Records Law affects historic documents. The case concerned a 1780 letter from… READ MORE
On July 20, 2021, the Supreme Judicial Court confirmed that municipalities enjoy substantial deference in dealing with marijuana retailers applying for Host Community Agreements (“HCA”). In Mederi, Inc. v. City of Salem, the SJC affirmed the dismissal of a suit brought by Mederi, whose HCA application was denied after Salem determined… READ MORE