Feeney v. Commonwealth, 366 N.E.2d 1262 (Mass. 1977)
State supreme court confirmed “[t]he authority of the attorney general as chief law officer, to assume primary control over the conduct of litigation which involves the interests of the Commonwealth.” This policy protects the interests of the state as a whole as a unitary client, rather than any one of the many potential agency manifestations…
In the Matter of the Receivership of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Inc., 434 Mass. 51; 746 N.E.2d 513 (Mass. 2001)
A nonprofit consumer group (Health Care for All), was permitted, essentially as an amicus curiae, to participate in an appeal from the receivership proceedings for one of the state’s largest non-profit HMOs. The group argued that the public’s interest was not protected sufficiently by a rehabilitation plan for the HMO which was proposed by the…
Ciardi v. F. Hoffmann- La Roche, Ltd., 762 N.E.2d 303 (Mass. 2002)
“The Attorney General has both a common-law duty and a specific statutory mandate to protect the public interest and enforce public rights.”
Commonwealth v. Silva, 864 N.E.2d 1 (Mass. 2007).
A newspaper sought the names of jurors in a case involving gang violence. The trial court, citing juror safety, impounded the information and the newspaper appealed. The Attorney General entered an appearance on behalf of the trial court. The Massachusetts Supreme Court held that In a case of this nature, the Attorney General is best…
