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Phillips v. Equity Residential Management, L.L.C. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-169-17)

NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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 SJC-12247 SCOTT PHILLIPS[1] vs. EQUITY RESIDENTIAL MANAGEMENT, L.L.C. Suffolk. May 1, 2017. – October 25, 2017. Present: Gants, C.J., Lenk, Hines, Gaziano, Lowy, Budd, & Cypher, JJ.[2] Landlord and Tenant, Security deposit, Multiple damages. Statute, Construction. Certification of a question of law to the Supreme Judicial Court by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Joshua N. Garick (David Pastor & Preston W. Leonard also present) for the plaintiff. Craig M. White, of Illinois (Thomas H. Wintner also present) for the defendant. The following submitted briefs for amici curiae: Jeffrey J. Pokorak, Catherine Dowie, & John Pierce Wilton for Accelerator-to-Practice Program of Suffolk University Law School & others. Lawrence J. Farber for Greater Boston Real Estate Board. Alex Mitchell-Munevar & Joseph Michalakes for City Life/Vida Urbana. BUDD, J. Where a landlord’s itemized list of deductions from a tenant’s security deposit does not comply with the requirements of the Security Deposit Act, G. L. c. 186, § 15B (act), the landlord forfeits the right to retain any part of that deposit. See G. L. c. 186, § 15B (6). In certain circumstances the landlord must pay the tenant treble damages, interest, costs, and attorney’s fees, pursuant to § 15B (7). In a certified question, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit asks whether a tenant is entitled to treble the amount of the entire security deposit under § 15B (7) where a landlord fails to provide to the tenant a statement of damages that meets the statutory requirements, see § 15B (4) (iii), second sentence, thereby forfeiting the entire security deposit, see § 15B (6) (b), and also fails to return that forfeited deposit within thirty days after the termination of the tenancy. See Phillips v. Equity Residential Mgt., L.L.C., 844 F.3d 1, 7-8 (1st Cir. 2016). We conclude that the Legislature did not intend for the treble damages provision in § 15B (7) to apply to a landlord’s violation of the requirements for an itemized list set out in § 15B (4) (iii), second sentence, or to the amount forfeited for violation of § 15B (6) (b), and accordingly answer the certified question no.[3] Background. We recite relevant facts presented by the Court of Appeals in its opinion, see Phillips, 844 F.3d at 3-4, along with […]

Beacon Residential Management, LP v. R.P. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-148-17)

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 SJC-12265 BEACON RESIDENTIAL MANAGEMENT, LP vs. R.P.[1] Suffolk. April 6, 2017. – September 14, 2017. Present: Gants, C.J., Lenk, Hines, Gaziano, Lowy, & Budd, JJ.[2] Summary Process. Practice, Civil, Summary process, Intervention. Summary Process. Complaint filed in the Boston Division of the Housing Court Department on July 27, 2015. A motion to intervene was heard by Jeffrey M. Winik, J. An application for leave to prosecute an interlocutory appeal was allowed in the Appeals Court by Gregory I. Massing, J. After review by the Appeals Court, the Supreme Judicial Court granted leave to obtain further appellate review. David Emer (Alison T. Holdway also present) for the mother. Therese Quijano for the plaintiff. Julia Devanthéry, for Casa Myrna & another, amici curiae, submitted a brief. Dorothy Bourassa & Eileen M. Fava, for Women’s Bar Association, amicus curiae, submitted a brief. BUDD, J. In this case we consider whether a mother[3] has the right to intervene in an eviction action brought by a landlord against the mother’s husband and their young children as the named defendants where, although she is not a named tenant on the lease, she has lived with her family in the apartment throughout the tenancy and alleges domestic violence in the home. We conclude that she may intervene both on her own behalf and on behalf of her children.[4] Background. This case is before us on the mother’s appeal from the denial, by a judge of the Housing Court, of the her motion to intervene in a summary process action brought by Beacon Residential Management LP (Beacon), the agent of the apartment owner, Georgetowne Homes Two, L.L.C. (Georgetowne Homes) (collectively, landlord). We recite relevant allegations from the mother’s motion to intervene and proposed answer, as supplemented by the testimony at the hearing before the motion judge.[5] In October, 2009, the mother, together with her husband, R.P., and their son, moved into a federally regulated and subsidized apartment in the Hyde Park section of Boston; the apartment was owned by Georgetowne Homes.[6] Initially both the mother and R.P. signed the lease. Soon thereafter the landlord informed them that the Federal government would not subsidize the rent due to the mother’s immigration status; thereafter, the couple removed the mother from the lease.[7] At that […]