News
Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane, LLP Attorney Receives Favorable Decision from Attorney General’s Office Bid Unit
On April 27, 2021, the Attorney General’s Office Bid Unit denied the Bid Protest filed by CTA Construction Managers, LLC protesting the decision of the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District (“District”) regarding the rescission of the District’s award of the Project. The Project consists of the construction of the District’s new intermediate school project, which will cost approximately $83,000,000. Attorney Peter T. McNulty from Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane, LLP represented the District throughout the defense of the Bid Protest before the Attorney General’s Bid Unit. At an April 12 hearing, CTA Construction Managers alleged that the District “abused its discretion” and “illegally compared CTA to the second-lowest bidder” when the District reversed their decision to award the Project to CTA.
While the District initially selected CTA as the lowest bidder, the District later rescinded their decision to award the project to CTA following revelations of new information outlining evidence of problematic projects conducted by CTA. At the hearing, CTA alleged the District already had all the information in its possession and abused its discretion in considering said information. The District argued that as the awarding authority, it was not only able to investigate the new information but obligated to do so. After the record was closed on April 20, 2021, the Attorney General’s Office denied the Bid Protest, stating that the District did not abuse its discretion in rescinding its initial award to CTA and awarding the Project to the next lowest qualified and responsible bidder.
Formerly corporate counsel at a large Community Bank, Mr. McNulty’s practice is primarily focused on corporate and financial transactional work and real estate dispositions and acquisitions. Mr. McNulty handles the full spectrum of corporate and real estate matters and has assisted clients with entity formation, real estate transactions, mergers & acquisitions, and investments, as well as commercial and residential acquisitions and dispositions. Additionally, Mr. McNulty represents and advises various financial institutions and private clients on a wide range of topics, including corporate governance, compliance, construction and secured lending, work outs and modifications, bankruptcy and foreclosure, and general litigation.
Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane, LLP Partner Prevails in U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
Attorney Felicia Vasudevan, a partner at Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane, LLP, received a favorable decision on behalf of her client, Marshfield Public Schools. The Plaintiff appealed the district court’s judgement that upheld a decision of the Massachusetts Bureau of Special Education Appeals (“BSEA”). However, as the notice was filed more than 30 days after entry, the First Circuit ultimately dismissed the appeal for being untimely. The Plaintiff also appealed the district court’s order, denying her motion to vacate. Read More
New Features of Public Participation at School Committee Meetings
Following our Alert from March 16, 2023, Civility is Dead – The Supreme Court Rules Municipal Control of Public Speak Limited to Reasonable Time/Place/Manner Restrictions, which discussed the holding to the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision in Barron v. Kolenda and the Town of Southborough (SJC-13284), we promised to bring you more detailed guidance on developing a Public Speak policy for your public body or municipality. The Barron case involved a constitutional challenge to the Town of Southborough’s public comment policy, which attempted to impose a code of civility on members of the public who participated in public comment before public bodies. In Barron, the court interpreted the state constitution to mean that public bodies may request, but not require, that public commentators be respectful and courteous. Instead, a public body may set restrictions on reasonable time, place, and manner comments to ensure that the meeting retains an orderly and peaceable manner.

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