Wildlands Trust of Southeastern Massachusetts, Inc., et al. v. Cedar Hill Retreat Center, Inc., et al. (Lawyers Weekly No. 09-034-17)
1 COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS SUFFOLK, ss. SUPERIOR COURT SUCV2016-01432-BLS2 WILDLANDS TRUST OF SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS, INC. & JOHN AND CYNTHIA REED FOUNDATION, Plaintiffs vs. CEDAR HILL RETREAT CENTER, INC. & BALLOU CHANNING DISTRICT UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST ASSOCIATION, INC., Defendants MEMORANDUM OF DECISION ON PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION OR CLARIFICATION On July 13, 2017, the parties were before this Court on the Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel Discovery and the Defendants’ Motion for a Protective Order. Defendants argued that the discovery sought was beyond the scope of what was at issue in this lawsuit and that the plaintiffs’ requests were unduly burdensome and amounted to harassment. This Court denied the motion from the bench, with only a brief explanation of its reasons by way of a margin note. Plaintiffs now move to reconsider and/or clarify this Court’s earlier ruling. Although initially skeptical of this request, this Court is now convinced that clarification is indeed required. Although plaintiffs are not entitled to the broad discovery they had originally sought (which was unnecessary and unduly burdensome), this Court was wrong to deny any discovery sought by their Motion to Compel. It is also apparent that the parties may have interpreted that earlier order almost as if it were a dispositive motion and that the discovery ruling meant that certain parts of plaintiffs’ Complaint were not properly before this Court. This Court did not anticipate or intend that and now wishes to correct that misimpression. The 2 Motion to Reconsider is therefore ALLOWED, with the following offered by way of explanation. This is an action seeking to enforce a Conservation Restriction (CR) imposed on real property located in Duxbury, Massachusetts (the Premises). The parties to the CR are the plaintiffs Wildlands Trust of Southeastern Massachusetts, Inc. (Wildlands Trust) and the defendant Cedar Hill Retreat Center Inc., (Cedar Hill). In its Amended Complaint, 1 Wildlands Trust alleges that Cedar Hill is engaging in “commercial revenue generating activities…as well as other activities that are violative of the Conservation Restriction.” ¶ 7 of Amended Complaint; see also ¶48-50. In its Motion for a Protective Order (and again in opposing the Motion to Reconsider), Cedar Hill took the position that Wildlands Trust’s ability to complain of Cedar Hill’s activities on the Premises is far narrower – that is, that it is limited to a single event in September 8, 2012 when there was a wedding reception on the Premises. This did not involve a complaint that the Premises were being used to generate revenue. In denying the plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel, this Court was of the view that a single violation was enough to entitle the plaintiffs to the equitable relief they sought, so that discovery that went beyond the September […]