Tuper v. North Adams Ambulance Service, Inc.

In this case of first impression, the principal issue on appeal is whether collateral estoppel principles permit a discharged employee, who was awarded unemployment compensation benefits in an administrative decision by the *133Department of Employment and Training (department), to use that decision offensively against his former employer in a subsequent civil action for wrongful termination. After a hearing on pretrial motions, a Superior Court judge ruled that the department’s decision had no preclusive effect in the civil action. The case was then tried to a jury, which returned a verdict…