Jurisdiction
Honigman has opened an office in Boston, its ninth in the United States and its first in the Northeast, by hiring life sciences patent partners Cristin Cowles, Danielle Herritt and Deborah Vernon from Womble Bond Dickinson. The firm announced the move on October 26, 2026. It is Honigman's first new location since it opened in Washington, D.C., in 2020.
A Suffolk County jury on October 16, 2026, ordered biologist Kristin Knouse to pay former Whitehead Institute scientist David Sabatini $6 million plus interest, finding she defamed him and interfered with his ability to make a living. Sabatini was removed from his Whitehead lab in 2021 after an investigation. The jury also rejected Knouse's counterclaims, including that their relationship was coercive, Fox News reported. Her lawyer said she intends to appeal.
Womble Bond Dickinson on October 15, 2026 added a five-lawyer financial services litigation team from K&L Gates, Bloomberg Law and Law.com reported. Partners Jeffrey Patterson, Ryan Tosi and Phoebe Winder joined the Boston office, with associates Keith McCarthy in Boston and Reymond Yammine in New York. The firm said the hire accelerates its firmwide financial services platform in New England.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed Executive Order 659 on October 5, 2026, proclaiming an energy emergency through April 30, 2027. It directs agencies to create a one-time heating-oil benefit for households at 60 to 100% of state median income, supplement HEAP, fund removal of the SMART solar charge for at least three months, cut Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard costs by half and enforce against petroleum price gouging. The governor's office put the package at nearly $150 million.
Twenty-three state and local measures dated September 25 to 29, 2026. California enacted laws on prescribed fire, children's meals, added-sugar menu warnings, diaper ingredients, disposable vapes, supplement sales to minors and disability-form fees. North Dakota, Texas, Arkansas and Georgia issued fuel emergency orders. New Jersey and New York signed school, reentry, Rutgers and climate bills, Massachusetts set emergency adult foster care rates, and San Jose paused detention-facility applications.
U.S. District Judge William Young issued findings of fact and rulings of law following a six-day bench trial in an ERISA class action against Trader Joe's. The court rejected claims that Trader Joe's unlawfully used forfeited retirement funds to offset employer contributions and a claim over a poorly performing fund, but ruled for participants on claims that fiduciaries failed to monitor recordkeeping fees, awarding $1,187,221 in damages and interest.
The City of Boston sued Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in Massachusetts federal court over the withdrawal of a $20 million RAISE grant awarded in 2022 for the Roxbury Resilient Corridors project. Boston alleges the department lacked authority under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to cancel the grant because the project included electric vehicle chargers, and that the rescission violated the Administrative Procedure Act and separation-of-powers principles.
Augustine Ripa is joining Whistleblower Law Collaborative as a Boston partner in its False Claims Act practice from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bloomberg Law reported on September 23, 2026; the firm said the move takes effect on September 28. His practice focuses on health-care FCA matters including pharmaceutical pricing, Anti-Kickback Statute issues, and FDA and regulatory-approval fraud theories.
Jeffrey Reed joined K&L Gates as a New York corporate partner focusing on state and local tax controversies and planning, Bloomberg Tax and the firm reported on September 22, 2026. A former Massachusetts Department of Revenue litigator, he joins from Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton and advises on multistate controversies, unclaimed property, and M&A state-tax consequences.
New York Attorney General Letitia James and a coalition of eight states sued the Department of the Interior, federal officials, and Bluepoint Wind in Brooklyn federal court on Tuesday. The eighty-one-page complaint challenges a $765 million Judgment Fund settlement that canceled Bluepoint's 2.4-gigawatt New York Bight offshore wind lease. The states allege the agreement illegally diverts taxpayer funds to a liquefied natural gas project, violating federal energy and environmental statutes.