CMJ Management Company v. Wilkerson (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-038-17)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA, 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us 16-P-426 Appeals Court CMJ MANAGEMENT COMPANY[1] vs. PATRICIA WILKERSON. No. 16-P-426. Suffolk. December 1, 2016. – March 31, 2017. Present: Cypher, Maldonado, & Blake, JJ. Housing. Landlord and Tenant, Termination of lease. Summary Process. Practice, Civil, Summary process, Jury trial. Summary process. Complaint filed in the Boston Division of the Housing Court Department on September 15, 2014. The case was heard by MaryLou Muirhead, J. Stephanie Schuyler (Hoang Nguyen also present) for the tenant. John G. Hofmann for the landlord. CYPHER, J. Patricia Wilkerson appeals from a Housing Court judgment, entered following a bench trial, that awarded the plaintiff possession of an apartment in which Wilkerson resided with her three grandchildren. Wilkerson argues that the judge erred in concluding that the conduct of her juvenile grandson constituted criminal activity that materially breached her lease. In addition, Wilkerson argues that the judge erred by striking her request for a jury trial after she failed to comply with a Housing Court pretrial conference order requiring the submission of a pretrial conference memorandum. Background. We summarize the facts from the judge’s findings, reserving some facts for later discussion.[2] Wilkerson is a resident at the Harbor Point Apartments in the Dorchester section of Boston (Harbor Point). CMJ Management Company (CMJ) is Harbor Point’s managing agent. Harbor Point is a housing development combining market-rate and subsidized units. Of the 1,283 units, 400 are subsidized pursuant to the Section 8 Housing Assistance Program of the United States Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1437 et seq. (Section 8 program). Wilkerson had custody of her fourteen year old grandson, who, along with his two adult brothers, were authorized occupants of her apartment. In July of 2014, while playing with other children in one of the common areas of the apartment complex, the juvenile grandson fired a BB gun multiple times, injuring two juvenile residents. Later that day, a Harbor Point security guard went to Wilkerson’s apartment, spoke with Wilkerson and the juvenile about the incident, and confiscated the BB gun. The parents of the injured children apparently did not pursue criminal charges. The following week Wilkerson received a notice to quit, terminating her lease. Pursuant to the Section 8 program, Wilkerson’s tenancy is subsidized by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). […]