Vinton v. Demetrion, 19 Mass. App. Ct. 948 (1985)

The present case falls not at the possible periphery, but at the center of the quoted language of the statute: the plaintiffs made the security deposit with Ferguson; the defendants were the immediate successors to Ferguson and knew the plaintiffs were tenants to the time of their eviction; Ferguson became obligated to the plaintiffs thirty days after the eviction; as Ferguson did not pass the deposit to the defendants as successors, the latter assumed a corresponding liability toward the plaintiffs. We may add that the defendants in the circumstances described could readily have foreseen their exposure and protected themselves against it by their arrangements with Ferguson.