JACOB SLATER & another v. TRAYNOR MANAGEMENT, INC., & another., 101 Mass. App. Ct. 705 (2022)

Citation: JACOB SLATER & another v. TRAYNOR MANAGEMENT, INC., & another., 101 Mass. App. Ct. 705 (2022)
Parent Document: JACOB SLATER & another v. TRAYNOR MANAGEMENT, INC., & another., 101 Mass. App. Ct. 705 (2022)
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts (state)
Effective Date: 2022-09-16
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10271865/jacob-slater-another-v-traynor... ↗

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SACKS, J. The defendants, a rental property management company and the property owner (collectively, the landlord), appeal from a Housing Court judgment concluding, on the plaintiff tenants' motion for summary judgment, that the landlord had failed timely to return the tenants' security deposit as required by G. L. c. 186, § 15B. The judgment requires the landlord to pay damages equal to three times the deposit plus interest, together with costs and attorney's fees. See G. L. c. 186, § 15B (7). On appeal, the landlord argues that the motion judge (1) abused her discretion in ruling on a discovery matter that the landlord raised in opposing summary judgment, (2) erred in ordering summary judgment where there remained genuine issues of material fact regarding whether the landlord had violated the statute, (3) erred in declining to recognize the landlord's force majeure defense based on the COVID-19 pandemic, and (4) abused her discretion in awarding $17,780 in attorney's fees where the amount of the security deposit, trebled, was only $7,275. We affirm.

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