Senior Litigation Counsel, Alexis Smith Hamdan, recently quoted on a notable business litigation court decision covered by Mass Lawyers Weekly

The case, Milanoski, et al. v. Delli Priscoli, et al., involved a dispute over the enforceability of a right of first refusal in a real estate transaction. In her notable quote of the week, Attorney Hamdan emphasized, “What you call a document really does not matter in Massachusetts,” highlighting the significance of actions over words when interpreting contractual language.

In the case, Judge Kenneth W. Salinger of the Superior Court’s Business Litigation Session ruled against invalidating the right of first refusal under the doctrine of judicial estoppel. He cited several reasons, including the plaintiffs’ failure to raise the estoppel argument in their written memoranda and the lack of evidence showing that contradictory statements made to an administrative agency had been adopted by the agency. Moreover, Judge Salinger invoked the “unclean hands” doctrine, pointing to the plaintiffs’ misleading conduct during negotiations.