NOTICE: Summary decisions issued by the Appeals Court pursuant to M.A.C. Rule 

23.0, as appearing in 97 Mass. App. Ct. 1017 (2020) (formerly known as rule 1:28, 

as amended by 73 Mass. App. Ct. 1001 [2009]), are primarily directed to the parties 

and, therefore, may not fully address the facts of the case or the panel's 

decisional rationale. Moreover, such decisions are not circulated to the entire 

court and, therefore, represent only the views of the panel that decided the case. 

A summary decision pursuant to rule 23.0 or rule 1:28 issued after February 25, 

2008, may be cited for its persuasive value but, because of the limitations noted 

above, not as binding precedent. See Chace v. Curran, 71 Mass. App. Ct. 258, 260 

n.4 (2008).

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

APPEALS COURT

23-P-650

BEES, LLC

vs.

JAMES M. HARROLD & another.1

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER PURSUANT TO RULE 23.0

The defendants appeal from a summary process judgment

entered in the Housing Court on December 28, 2021, and an order

denying a motion for reconsideration of that judgment or for a

new trial entered on January 31, 2022. We affirm.

Background. The defendants own a manufactured housing unit

located on a lot that they rent from the Edgemere Mobile Home 

Park (the park), which is owned and operated by the plaintiff. 

On August 18, 2021, the plaintiff served the defendants with a 

notice to quit, alleging that the defendants substantially 

violated the rules of the park by "verbally abus[ing]" the 

property manager of the park, "physically assault[ing] another 

tenant of the park," "verbally abus[ing] and threatening a 

1 Deborah L. Bergstrom.
2

neighboring tenant," and "repeatedly park[ing] in the space 

designated for" a neighbor. The plaintiff commenced a summary 

process action and a trial was held before a Housing Court judge 

on December 9, 2021. The defendants asserted at trial that the 

summary process action was in retaliation for several complaints 

they had made to Shrewsbury town offices and the Massachusetts 

Attorney General's Office.

On December 28, 2021, judgment entered for the plaintiff

for possession and damages. The defendants timely moved for 

reconsideration of the judgment and for a new trial. The judge 

denied that motion on January 31, 2022, and the defendants filed 

a timely notice of appeal. The defendants then filed a motion 

in this court for leave to file a motion in the Housing Court to 

correct the record. See Mass. R. A. P. 8 (e), as appearing in 

481 Mass. 1611 (2019). As a result, appellate proceedings were 

stayed.

In the Housing Court, the defendants did not file a motion 

to correct the record but instead filed five more postjudgment 

motions, each about a month apart, between September 2022 and 

January 2023. The judge denied each of these motions in orders 

dated October 21, November 28, and December 19, 2022, and 
3

February 2, 2023. The defendants did not file a timely notice 

of appeal from any of these orders.2

Discussion. 1. Standing. The defendants argue that the 

plaintiff did not have standing to bring the summary process 

action. The argument is unavailing. Anyone with an ownership,

leasehold, or other property interest in the property at issue 

has standing to bring a summary process action. G. L. c. 239, 

§ 1. See Cambridge St. Realty, LLC v. Stewart, 481 Mass. 121, 

129 (2018). The Manufactured Housing Act does not change this

basis for standing. See G. L. c. 140, § 32J, par. 1 (after 

termination of tenancy, licensed owner of manufactured home site 

"may recover possession . . . by summary process"). Cf.

Cambridge St. Realty, supra ("[a]n inadequate notice would not 

deprive the landlord of [standing]; rather it would be a failure 

of the landlord's prima facie case"). The defendants do not 

dispute that the plaintiff is the licensed owner of the land on 

which their manufactured housing unit is located. Therefore, 

the plaintiff had standing to bring the summary process action

2 The defendants filed a notice of appeal on March 21, 2023, 

purporting to appeal "nunc pro tunc" from the orders denying 

those five postjudgment motions. The notice of appeal was not 

timely. See Mass. R. A. P. 4 (a) (1), as appearing in 481 Mass. 

1606 (2019). Thus we do not consider any issues with regard to 

the rulings on those motions. See DeLucia v. Kfoury, 93 Mass. 

App. Ct. 166, 170 (2018) ("timely notice of appeal is a 

jurisdictional prerequisite to our authority to consider any 

matter on appeal").
4

and the Housing Court had jurisdiction to hear it. See G. L. 

c. 185C, § 3.

2. Manufactured Housing Act. The defendants contend that 

the judge erred in construing the Manufactured Housing Act, 

G. L. c. 140, §§ 32A-32S, particularly § 32J, which governs 

summary process.3 On review of summary process actions, we 

accept the factual findings of the judge as true, but 

"scrutinize without deference the legal standard which the judge 

applied to the facts." Cambridge St. Realty, 481 Mass. at 123.

The Manufactured Housing Act provides that the owner of a 

manufactured housing community may terminate a tenancy for a 

"substantial violation of any enforceable rule of the 

manufactured housing community" after serving the tenants with 

the proper notice. G. L. c. 140, § 32J, par. 2 (2).

From the evidence at trial, the judge had ample basis to 

conclude that the plaintiff had properly terminated the 

defendants' tenancy for substantial violations of the park's 

rules regarding refraining from interfering with other tenants' 

quiet enjoyment and not parking in another tenant's space.4 The 

3 They also contend that the judge should have applied G. L. 

c. 186A, § 4, but that statute only applies to tenants of 

foreclosed properties.

4 The park's Rule 24(b) provides in part that "[r]esidents 

and their guests shall not interfere with the other residents' 

privacy, use, and quiet enjoyment of their homes or homesites at 

any time." Rule 27(a) provides in part that "[r]esidents may 
5

judge found that the plaintiff served the defendants with a 

facially valid notice to quit, which stated the reasons for 

termination and notified the defendants that they could cure the 

violations to avoid eviction. See G. L. c. 140, § 32J. The 

judge credited the testimony of the defendants' neighbor that on

July 30, 2021, one of the defendants had "yelled in her face," 

"shoved her father," "call[ed] her unkind names," and that all 

of "these actions make[] her feel unsafe." The judge also 

credited the testimony of the property manager of the park who 

testified that the defendants parked their car in front of a 

neighbor's unit and, when asked to move the car, "became excited 

and started yelling." All that was ample basis for the judge to 

conclude that the defendants committed substantial violations of 

park rules. See G. L. c. 140, § 32J, par. 2 (2). See also 940 

Code Mass. Regs. § 10.08(2)(b) (1996) ("substantial" violation 

for purposes of G. L. c. 140, § 32J, is a violation that 

"endangers the health or safety of the other residents of the 

community . . . or unreasonably interferes with the use or quiet 

enjoyment by other residents of their . . . home sites").5

park up to two personal motor vehicles associated with their 

site, parking may be at the lot in question depending on its 

size; otherwise, additional parking areas are available within 

the park."

5 Contrary to the defendants' argument, the plaintiff did 

not seek to terminate the defendants' tenancy for "an alleged 

violation of any noncriminal and/or misdemeanor health and
6

3. Retaliation defense. The defendants point to a July 

30, 2021 e-mail from the plaintiff's property manager informing 

them, "You are breaking the rules and regs of the park." The 

defendants assert that beginning on August 2, 2021, they made 

complaints about the plaintiff to the town and to the Attorney 

General's Office.6 On August 13, 2021, the plaintiff served the 

notice to quit on the defendants. Based on that chronology, the 

defendants argue that the judge erred in concluding that their

defense of retaliation was "not availing." See G. L. c. 186, 

§ 18, par. 2 ("receipt of any notice of termination of tenancy"

within six months of a tenant making a complaint to the 

government creates "a rebuttable presumption that such notice or 

other action is a reprisal against the tenant for engaging in 

such activities").

We discern no error in the judge's conclusion that even if 

the defendants had established the presumption of retaliation, 

it was successfully rebutted by the testimony, which the judge 

saw and believed, of the park manager and the defendants' 

neighbor regarding the defendants' repeated parking violations, 

their verbal insults directed toward the park manager, and the 

safety law," so the requirements of 940 Code Mass. Regs. 

§ 10.08(3) (1996) do not apply.

6 The Housing Court judge noted that those complaints "do 

not appear in the record."
7

July 30, 2021 altercation between the defendants and the 

neighbor. This testimony supported a "sufficient independent 

justification," G. L. c. 186, § 18, par. 2, for the plaintiff to 

terminate the defendants' tenancy, and, as the judge found, 

indicated that the plaintiff would have terminated the tenancy 

regardless of any complaints the defendants made to the town of 

Shrewsbury or the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office. See

Saipe v. Sullivan & Co., Inc., 487 Mass. 1001, 1004 (2021). 

Contrast Jablonski v. Clemons, 60 Mass. App. Ct. 473, 477 

(2004).

4. Denial of motion for reconsideration and new trial. 

This court reviews denials of motions for reconsideration and 

new trial for abuse of discretion. See Dacey v. Burgess, 491

Mass. 311, 317 (2023). We discern no abuse of discretion in the 

judge's January 31, 2022 order denying the defendants' motion 

for reconsideration and new trial. As the judge stated, "this 

case was determined by the [d]efendants' own conduct/credibility

regarding an ongoing dispute with a neighbor. . . . The [c]ourt 

simply did not credit the [d]efendants' trial testimony except 

for in limited circumstances."

To the extent that we have not expressly addressed any 

additional arguments made by the defendants, they have not been
8

overlooked. "We find nothing in them that requires discussion." 

Commonwealth v. Domanski, 332 Mass. 66, 78 (1954).

Judgment entered December 28, 

2021, affirmed.

Order denying motion for 

reconsideration or for a 

new trial, entered January 

31, 2022, affirmed.

By the Court (Massing, 

Singh & Grant, JJ.7),

Assistant Clerk

Entered: June 3, 2024.

7 The panelists are listed in order of seniority.