Mark is available to consult with other counsel and regularly accepts case referrals.
He is widely known for seeking novel solutions to difficult and unresolved issues. Mark has often successfully pursued untested approaches
and has tried variations of approaches that have not been previously successful.
Examples of challenging cases that Mark has handled appear below.
| Doe v. White Hen Pantry, Inc., Middlesex Superior Court Civil Action No. 90-4061E | $600,000 settlement during trial
against a convenience store franchisor after a female store clerk was raped by armed robbers. Our client was identified
during discovery in another negligent security case against the same franchisor. She had previously been unsuccessful
in obtaining counsel as other lawyers told her such a case could not be brought. |
| Bagley v. Trader Alan’s Fifth Wheel, Inc., 430 Mass. 454 (1999) | Several suits resulting from brutal rape and assault of
woman in Amesbury roadhouse. Insurer refused to defend bankrupt defendant, claiming insurance coverage exclusion. Summary judgment
obtained for plaintiff based on requests for admissions, followed by $2 Million assessment of damages judgment, apportioned between
damages resulting from rape and damages resulting from physical assault (7th largest judgment of 1994 according to Mass. Lawyers Weekly).
Reach and apply action against insurer resulted in summary judgment for plaintiff, which was overturned by Supreme Judicial Court on basis of
different coverage exclusion. SJC did not decide whether assault and battery exclusion applied to rape (as opposed to assault and battery). |
| Doe v. Boston Housing Authority, Suffolk Superior Court Civil Action No. 94-873 | Application of Bivens v. Six Unknown Named
Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971) to the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights that allowed prompt
filing of suit on behalf of a 90 year old rape victim for purposes of accelerating litigation, which otherwise would have been
delayed six months by Massachusetts Tort Claims Act. Case settled as soon as Tort Claims Act claim amended into
Complaint. |
| Doe v. DiTucci, Middlesex Superior Court No. 92-2370B | Settlement for a pedestrian dragged from sidewalk to unlit area of
residential parking garage and raped. Defendant’s summary judgment motion was denied on the basis of a novel property law
argument. |
| McClure v. Town of East Brookfield, 1999 WL 1323628 (Worcester Mass.Super.Ct. March 11, 1999) | Successful applications of Bivens to Massachusetts
Declaration of Rights and Massachusetts Civil Rights Act. Civil rights settlement enabled family of domestic
violence victims to recover damages from municipal police who refused to enforce domestic violence laws against abusing spouse/father. [See Dianne
Williamson, Victims Fight Abuse and System, WORCESTER TELEGRAM & GAZETTE (January 6, 2002). Analyzed in 17 New England Jury Verdict Review & Analysis 10 (March 2002). |
| Pettey v. Belanger, 232 Bkrtcy. Rptr. 543 (D. Mass. 1999) | Bankruptcy Court decision on appeal affirms holding that $750,000 settlement debt resulting
from uncle‘s incestuous sexual assaults of minor nieces was non-dischargeable in bankruptcy. |
| Soriano v. City of Lawrence Police Department, Essex Superior Court Civil Action No. 00-0106D (2000) | Then Superior Court Judge, now Mass. SJC Chief Justice, Ralph Gants denied summary judgment on statute of
limitations grounds where city hid discriminatory motive for not promoting Hispanic police officer for 12 years, wherein the limitations period was six months at time. |
| Genereux v. Columbia Sussex Corporation, U.S. Dist. Ct. D. Mass. No. 05-CV-10879-JLT | $1.1 Million settlement on the eve of trial in Boston on behalf of Massachusetts woman raped at Cayman Islands resort
at which she had not been guest. This case required research and application of Cayman Islands law, which incorporated common law of the entire British Commonwealth
and former British colonies. Discussed in Mass. Lawyers Weekly at 37 MLW 294 (October 6, 2008). |
| Parsons ex rel. Parsons v. Town of Tewksbury, 26 Mass.L.Rptr. 555 (Middlesex Mass.Super.Ct. January 19, 2010) | In an Order on Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss, Superior Court upheld application of Bivens to Massachusetts Declaration of Rights
in middle school bullying case although finding evidence of school misconduct insufficient to “shock the conscience.” In a subsequent ruling, Superior Court upheld
use of Massachusetts Civil Rights Act against bully and negligence principles against student who instigated a fight. Discussed in Mass. Lawyers Weekly by Eric T. Berkman,
Judge Finds a Right to Sue Over Bullying, MLW (Feb. 15, 2010). |
| Harrington v. City of Attleboro, U.S. Dist. Ct. D. Mass. No. 15-CV-12769-DJC (January 2018) | Decision denying summary judgment in a Title IX school bullying, peer on peer, sex discrimination case based on sexual orientation stereotyping. |
| Papageorge v. Mothers Work, Inc., U.S. Dist. Ct. D. Mass. No. 03-CV-11193-JLT | Settlement on eve of trial of a widely reported case brought on behalf of pregnancy clothing chain district manager
who was fired from employment because she became pregnant. |