authority to settle claim in Massachusetts

2020Thus, without an actual presentment made in strict compliance with the statute, the executive officer with the authority to settle a claim could not be assured of an adequate opportunity to investigate the circumstances surrounding that claim in order to determine whether an offer of settlement should be made." Weaver v. Commonwealth, 387 Mass. 43, 47 (1982) (internal citation omitted); see also Estate of Gavin, 468 Mass. at 133 ("presentment to the appropriate executive officer is critical. . . ") (citing Weaver, 387 Mass. 43, 47 (1982)).

2020Thus, without an actual presentment made in strict compliance with the statute, the executive officer with the authority to settle a claim could not be assured of an adequate opportunity to investigate the circumstances surrounding that claim in order to determine whether an offer of settlement should be made." Weaver v. Commonwealth, 387 Mass. 43, 47 (1982) (internal citation omitted); see also Estate of Gavin, 468 Mass. at 133 ("presentment to the appropriate executive officer is critical. . . ") (citing Weaver, 387 Mass. 43, 47 (1982)).

2011Several years later, the Supreme Judicial Court said of the presentment requirement: “(T]he purpose of the presentment requirement is to allow the public employer to investigate any claim in full and to ‘arbitrate, compromise or settle’ any such claims as it sees fit.” Holohan v. Medford, 394 Mass. 186, 189 (1985), quoting G.L.c. 258, §5. 3 The Act requires that presentment be made to the “executive officer,” which is defined in §1 of the Act, because that is the person with the authority to settle a claim on behalf of the public employer before a suit is filed.

2005See ibid. (declining to hold that presentment to the city solicitor is equivalent to presentment to the city manager, and stating that “[t]he city solicitor, though he or she may advise the city manager, does not possess the authority to settle a claim within the meaning of the statute”). 8 Furthermore, the record presents no evidence that the attorney directly acknowledged representing the sheriff or that the sheriff had direct notice of this claim.

2020Thus, without an actual presentment made in strict compliance with the statute, the executive officer with the authority to settle a claim could not be assured of an adequate opportunity to investigate the circumstances surrounding that claim in order to determine whether an offer of settlement should be made." Weaver v. Commonwealth, 387 Mass. 43, 47 (1982) (internal citation omitted); see also Estate of Gavin, 468 Mass. at 133 ("presentment to the appropriate executive officer is critical. . . ") (citing Weaver, 387 Mass. 43, 47 (1982)).

2020Thus, without an actual presentment made in strict compliance with the statute, the executive officer with the authority to settle a claim could not be assured of an adequate opportunity to investigate the circumstances surrounding that claim in order to determine whether an offer of settlement should be made." Weaver v. Commonwealth, 387 Mass. 43, 47 (1982) (internal citation omitted); see also Estate of Gavin, 468 Mass. at 133 ("presentment to the appropriate executive officer is critical. . . ") (citing Weaver, 387 Mass. 43, 47 (1982)).

2007Without such compliance, ‘the executive officer with the authority to settle a claim could not be assured of an adequate opportunity to investigate the circumstances surrounding that claim in order to determine whether an offer of settlement should be made.’ Id. at 48”); Garcia v. Essex County Sheriff’s Dept., 65 Mass. App. Ct. 104, 107 (2005) (presentment of a claim is required under § 4 prior to the filing of a civil tort suit). 4 Likewise, the judge’s interpretation of the term “claim” in § 13 is inconsistent with its usage in G.

2005Contrast Carifio v. Watertown, 27 Mass. App. Ct. at 575 (analogizing to a hypothetical situation where, if the town attorney specifically wrote to the claimant that the attorney “represent[s] the town manager, who has received notice of your making a claim,” and directed the claimant to send his reply to the office of the town clerk, such a reply would “count ... as a communication for practical purposes to the town manager through his representative”). 9 Content of notice.