Source: http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/450/450mass1007.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 02:09:51+00:00

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Court. The tenants commenced an action for return of their security deposit. A third tenant, Jada Sherman, separately commenced a like action, and the cases were consolidated. The landlords did not move to transfer the cases to the regular civil docket of the District Court pursuant to G. L. c. 218, § 24. See Daum v. Delta Airlines, Inc., 396 Mass. 1013 , 1014 (1986) (small claims defendant's motion to transfer "should rarely, if ever," be denied). A clerk-magistrate ruled in all three tenants' favor, and the landlords appealed for a trial in the regular jury session of the District Court. A judge in the District Court again ruled in the tenants' favor, concluding that the landlords were not entitled to retain any portion of the security deposit and awarding treble damages under G. L. c. 186, § 15B (6), (7). After this decision was issued, the landlords filed a "joint notice of appeal," listing numerous "questions of law" that they contended were presented by these cases but containing no request that the judge report the cases to the Appellate Division of the District Court pursuant to G. L. c. 218, § 23, tenth par. After final judgments entered, the landlords again filed a "notice of appeal," the contents of which have not been provided to us. The judge did not report the cases to the Appellate Division. The landlords' G. L. c. 211, § 3, petition followed, seeking vacatur of the judgments or an order that the matter be reported to the Appellate Division.
The tenants argue that the landlords' appeal from the judgment of the single justice is untimely. We disagree. Regardless whether the time to appeal ran from the date of the single justice's judgment or from the date of a subsequent order denying the landlords' motion to vacate, the notice of appeal was filed within thirty days. Mass. R. A. P. 4 (a), as amended, 430 Mass. 1603 (1999). The shorter appeal periods set forth in S.J.C. Rule 2:21 (1), 421 Mass. 1303 (1995), and Mass. R. A. P. 27.1 (a), as amended, 367 Mass. 920 (1975), are inapplicable here. The landlords' petition sought relief from final judgments, not from any interlocutory ruling, see S.J.C. Rule 2:21 (1), and this case presents an appeal from a judgment of the county court, not an application for further appellate review. See Mass. R. A. P. 27.1, as amended, 426 Mass. 1602 (1998).
appeal." [Note 4] The fact that this remedy was available to them is sufficient to warrant the denial of relief under G. L. c. 211, § 3. By declining to move to transfer the cases to the regular civil docket and submitting to the "simple, informal and inexpensive" small claims process, the landlords "agree[d] to limited appellate review." Eresian v. Hall, supra, quoting G. L. c. 218, § 21.
Although we conclude that the single justice properly denied relief, we do not find that sanctions are warranted in these circumstances. "We are hesitant to deem an appeal frivolous and grant sanctions except in egregious cases." Symmons v. O'Keeffe, 419 Mass. 288 , 303 (1995), citing Avery v. Steele, 414 Mass. 450 , 461 (1993). This is not such a case.
Thomas F. Feeney for Kenneth Porter & another.
[Note 2] Janice Sullivan and Jada Sherman.
[Note 3] In their brief, the landlords argue that they were unfairly deprived of their right to a jury trial in the District Court. We express no view on the merits of this argument, but conclude only that this issue could have been raised in a request for a report.
[Note 4] As noted, the judge did not report the cases to the Appellate Division. To the extent that the landlords requested a report, we consider that request to have been implicitly denied.

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