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Edward S. Cheng quoted in MLW on Superior Court awarding plaintiff $252K on ‘hail mary’ fraud claim

Edward S. Cheng, vice chair and partner in the firm’s Litigation Department, and co-chair of its Professional Liability, Business Litigation, and Construction Law practice groups, was quoted in a Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (MLW) article on Jan. 13, 2022. The article, “Lawyer, clients sanctioned for ‘fraud on the court’,” details a recent decision in Superior Court in which a Chelmsford lawyer and his clients were sanctioned for committing fraud on the court based on misrepresentations overstating the amount of damages owed by a contractor in a previous lawsuit over the construction of the clients’ home.

Read the full article at masslawyersweekly.com (subscriber content).

From the article:

But Boston professional liability attorney Edward S. Cheng said Patel fits comfortably within the framework the SJC established in Wong.

“I don’t see any problem with the Superior Court determining that that conduct by the attorney — proffering the testimony on the 93A issue and not correcting the record where he knows the testimony was incorrect — is misconduct or, at the very least, conduct that threatens the fair administration of justice,” Cheng said.

Cheng added that courts walk a fine line when issuing sanctions against attorneys in such circumstances.

“We need to be careful not to inadvertently chill vigorous advocacy,” he said.