Brown v. Woods Mullen Shelter/Boston Public Health Commission (Lawyers Weekly No. 09-001-17)
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS SUFFOLK, ss SUPERIOR COURT 16-805-C JASON BROWN v. WOODS MULLEN SHELTER/ BOSTON PUBLIC HEALTH COMMISSION MEMORANDUM OF DECISION AND ORDER ON DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT Plaintiff Jason Brown, appearing pro se, has brought what appears to be a three-claim complaint against the owner-operator of the Woods Mullen Shelter, a public homeless shelter located in Boston. All claims arise out of the plaintiff’s expulsion from the shelter on August 10, 2014, when Woods Mullen staff informed Mr. Brown that he would not be permitted to enter the facility as a resident with even medically prescribed marijuana.[1] As a matter of policy, the Boston Public Health Commission (which manages the shelter) does not allow marijuana or other controlled substances – whether for medical reasons or otherwise – onto its property. According to Commission Director of Emergency Shelter Services Elizabeth Henderson, “[t]he Commission is constantly striving to monitor and remove substances from the shelter, whether that is [sic] marijuana, alcohol, drugs, unmarked prescription drugs and other similar substances. The Commission treats marijuana of any nature as it does alcohol and prohibits it from its shelters.” (Henderson Aff. at para. 6)(emphasis supplied).[2] Plaintiff refused to leave the shelter, and shelter staff summoned the Boston Police. When efforts by the police to escort plaintiff off of the site were unsuccessful, Mr. Brown was arrested for trespassing. Plaintiff has brought claims for negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress and unspecified “civil rights” violations. These claims are addressed exclusively to Mr. Brown’s expulsion from the Woods Mullen Shelter by the Boston Public Health Commission, and do not reach his arrest at the hands of the Boston Police Department.[3] The defendant has moved for summary judgment on all counts. The Court conducted a hearing in respect to this motion on August 28, 2017, at which hearing the plaintiff and counsel for Woods Mullen Shelter/Boston Public Health Commission appeared and presented arguments. For the reasons which follow, the defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment shall be ALLOWED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. DISCUSSION The defendant’s first contention is that the Complaint’s claims for negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress are barred by the plaintiff’s failure to make proper presentment of such claims to the Commission’s chief executive. The Court agrees. Under G.L. c. 258, _ 4, a tort claim against a public employer must be presented to its “executive officer,” defined in G.L. c. 258, _ 1 as its “nominal chief executive officer or board,” within two years after the cause of action arose. In the case of the Boston Public Health Commission, the chief executive […]
Great Woods, Inc., et al. v. Clemmey (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-092-16)
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 15-P-657 Appeals Court GREAT WOODS, INC., & another[1] vs. KARL D. CLEMMEY. No. 15-P-657. Middlesex. January 15, 2016. – July 26, 2016. Present: Green, Wolohojian, & Henry, JJ. Injunction. Judgment, Relief from judgment, Consent judgment. Practice, Civil, Relief from judgment, Judicial discretion. Civil action commenced in the Superior Court Department on November 21, 1994. After review by this court, 86 Mass. App. Ct. 1115 (2014), a motion for clarification or for modification or dissolution of a permanent injunction was heard by Kathe M. Tuttman, J. Nicholas P. Shapiro (Robert K. Hopkins with him) for the defendant. Jeffrey S. King for the intervener. WOLOHOJIAN, J. After a series of disruptive and threatening incidents, Great Woods, Inc. (Great Woods), brought suit to enjoin Karl Clemmey from entering its property, a large entertainment venue in Mansfield. The suit was resolved when, in 1996, Clemmey agreed to the entry of a permanent injunction that provided: “Clemmey, whether acting personally or through any other person acting under his direction or control, is hereby strictly and permanently ORDERED to desist and refrain (1) from entering upon or crossing over the property in Mansfield, Massachusetts, under the control of Great Woods, Inc. (owned by Time Trust, or Sherman Wolfe,) for any reason whatsoever without the express written consent of Great Woods, Inc. and (2) from accosting, harassing, intimidating or threatening any owner, manager, employee or agent of Great Woods, Inc.” Seventeen years later, in 2013, Clemmey moved to “clarify” that Great Woods’s successor in interest, Live Nation Worldwide, Inc. (Live Nation), had no right to enforce the permanent injunction. In the alternative, Clemmey moved, pursuant to Mass.R.Civ.P. 60(b)(5), 365 Mass. 828 (1974), to modify or dissolve the injunction based on changed circumstances.[2] A judge of the Superior Court (who was not the judge who entered the original injunction) denied Clemmey’s motion and modified the injunction to, in essence, substitute Live Nation for Great Woods. Clemmey appealed, and in an unpublished memorandum and order issued pursuant to our rule 1:28, we vacated the modification order and remanded for findings of fact on the ground that the modification was essentially a new injunction requiring explicit findings. Great Woods, Inc. v. Clemmey, 86 Mass. App. Ct. 1115 (2014). On remand, the judge made findings […]
Clark, et al. v. Leisure Woods Estates, Inc. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-019-16)
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 15-P-366 Appeals Court DOUG CLARK & others[1] vs. LEISURE WOODS ESTATES, INC. No. 15-P-366. Franklin. November 13, 2015. – February 23, 2016. Present: Milkey, Carhart, & Massing, JJ. Damages, Breach of covenant of quiet enjoyment, Breach of implied warranty of habitability, Consumer protection case. Landlord and Tenant, Quiet enjoyment, Habitability, Consumer protection, Multiple damages, Snow and ice. Consumer Protection Act, Damages, Landlord and tenant. Manufactured Housing Community. Snow and Ice. Practice, Criminal, Witness. Civil action commenced in the Western Division of the Housing Court Department on November 2, 2009. The case was heard by Robert G. Fields, J. Timothy N. Schofield for the defendant. Jan Stiefel for the plaintiffs. MASSING, J. This appeal involves a series of landlord-tenant disputes in the manufactured housing context. The plaintiffs, residents of Leisure Woods Estates (Leisure Woods), a manufactured housing community in Orange, filed a complaint alleging that the defendant, Leisure Woods Estates, Inc., which owns, operates, and maintains Leisure Woods, failed to properly maintain and repair the common spaces, roads, and home sites. After a jury-waived trial, a judge of the Housing Court entered judgment in favor of plaintiffs representing seven households,[2] finding a breach of the implied warranty of habitability with respect to the condition of the roads, interference with the plaintiffs’ quiet enjoyment of the common walking trails, and separate and distinct breaches of the covenant of quiet enjoyment with respect to the conditions of the seven individual home sites. The judge awarded injunctive relief and monetary damages for the violations, including two separate awards of three months’ rent to each household under G. L. c. 186, § 14 (§ 14), for the breaches of the covenant of quiet enjoyment, and a twenty percent rent abatement, trebled under G. L. c. 93A (c. 93A) and the Attorney General’s regulations promulgated thereunder, for the breach of the warranty of habitability. The judge awarded each household $ 13,010.40 (a total of $ 91,072.80), plus attorney’s fees and costs. On appeal, the defendant argues that the judge erred in awarding multiple triple rent damage awards under § 14 for separate breaches of the covenant of quiet enjoyment, in applying the warranty of habitability to potholes and accumulations of ice and snow on the roads, and in excluding the testimony of a “vital witness” for the defendant who did not arrive in court until […]
Commonwealth v. Woods (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-001-14)
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 SJC‑10793 COMMONWEALTH vs. THOMAS A. WOODS. Plymouth. September 10, 2013. ‑ January 2, 2014. Present: Ireland, C.J., Spina, Cordy, Botsford, Gants, Duffly, & Lenk, JJ. Homicide. Joint Enterprise. Evidence, Joint enterprise, Intent, Motive, Consciousness of guilt, Testimony before grand jury, Voluntariness of statement. Intent. Grand Jury. Constitutional Law, Grand jury, Self‑incrimination, Voluntariness of statement, Assistance of counsel. Witness, Self‑incrimination. Practice, Criminal, Grand jury proceedings, Voluntariness of statement, Request for jury instructions, Assistance of counsel, Capital case. Supreme Judicial Court, Superintendence of inferior courts. Indictment found and returned in the Superior Court Department on October 5, 2006. The case was tried before by Paul E. Troy, J. Myles Jacobson for the defendant. Mary Lee, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. CORDY, J. In the early morning hours of December 2, 2005, the defendant, Thomas A. Woods, and the victim, Paul Mullen, left a nightclub and agreed to meet later to smoke marijuana. The defendant drove to the local Hess gasoline station located in the city of Brockton, which was a popular late-night meeting place. When the victim telephoned the defendant to ask where he was, the defendant told him he was at Hess, and the victim said he would be right there. Once the victim arrived, the defendant asked him to sit in the driver’s side seat and roll a marijuana “blunt,” while he went into the store to buy some pizza. While the defendant made idle conversation with the cashier inside the station, two masked men approached the vehicle and one shot the victim eight times, killing him almost instantly. The defendant went to the vehicle, laid the victim on the ground, and drove to his girl friend’s house, where he was seen talking to a man similar in description to the shooter. The defendant later gave two noncustodial interviews to police, and testified before the grand jury as a witness. After further investigation, he was indicted and tried for murder in the first degree. On May 20, 2009, the defendant was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. On appeal, the defendant argues that the evidence was insufficient to prove his guilt as a joint venturer. He contends that the Commonwealth’s case, which relied almost entirely on circumstantial evidence, did not include any direct evidence that he knew […]
Police: Man Fought with Cops at Woods Mullen Shelter
The following information was supplied by the Boston Police Department. Charges listed do not indicate convictions. A Boston man was charged with brawling with police officers on July 8. Boston Police were working a paid detail South End Patch News