Massachusetts Appeals Court
The Massachusetts Appeals Court is the intermediate appellate court of Massachusetts. It was created in 1972 as a court of general appellate jurisdiction. The court is located at the John Adams Courthouse at Pemberton Square in Boston, the same building which houses the Supreme Judicial Court and the Social Law Library. Jurisdiction. The Appeals Court hears most appeals from the seven court departments of the Massachusetts Trial Court, including the Superior, District, Probate and Family, Juvenile, Land, Housing, and Boston Municipal Court departments. The Appeals Court also hears appeals from final decisions of certain Massachusetts administrative agencies , including the Department of Industrial Accidents, the Appellate Tax Board, and the Commonwealth Employment Relations Board. Some types of appeals are not heard before the Appeals Court. For example, an appeal from a conviction of first degree murder goes directly to the Supreme Judicial Court. The Supreme Judicial Court can also elect to bypass review by the Appeals Court and hear a case on "direct appellate review." In the District Court Department, appeals in certain civil cases are made first to the Appellate Division of the District Court before being eligible for appeal to the Appeals Court. After a decision  by the Appeals Court, a party may seek "further appellate review" by requesting review by the Supreme Judicial Court. Proceedings. The Appeals Court usually hears cases in three-judge panels, which rotate so that every judge has an opportunity to sit with every other judge. In addition to its panel sittings, the Appeals Court runs a continuous "single justice" session, with a separate docket. The single justice may review interlocutory orders and orders for injunctive relief issued by certain Trial Court departments, as well as requests for review of summary process appeal bonds, certain attorney's fee awards, motions for  stays (postponement) of civil proceedings or criminal sentences pending appeal, and motions to review impoundment orders. Each associate justice sits as single justice for a month at a time. Appeals are heard from September through July at the John Adams Courthouse as well as at special sessions held at various locations such as law schools throughout Massachusetts. Justices. Twenty-five justices sit on the Appeals Court: one chief justice and twenty-four associate justices. The current chief justice of the Appeals Court is Mark V. Green. If a Massachusetts appellate justice (that is, a justice of either the Appeals Court  or of the Supreme Judicial Court) attains age 70 and retires, that justice may be recalled to active service on the Appeals Court as needed. Currently, no recall justices are serving. The court's current members, listed by seniority, are as follows: Former justices: The following justices have been elevated from the Appeals Court to the Supreme Judicial Court