Adjartey v. Cent. Div. of the Hous. Court Departmentand, 120 N.E.3d 297 (2019)

Citation: Adjartey v. Cent. Div. of the Hous. Court Departmentand, 120 N.E.3d 297 (2019)
Parent Document: Adjartey v. Cent. Div. of the Hous. Court Departmentand, 120 N.E.3d 297 (2019)
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts (state)
Effective Date: 2019-04-10
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/7178223/adjartey-v-cent-div-of-the-hous... ↗

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Where both parties are present in the Housing Court on the day of the hearing, they are faced with a decision: proceed to trial, or attempt to reach a mutually satisfactory agreement through negotiation or mediation. Mediation is an informal, confidential process during which the parties meet with a housing specialist to discuss a potential settlement.17 If the parties reach an agreement -- either on their own or *322with the help of a mediator -- and that agreement is approved by the judge, it becomes a binding court order.18 Boston Hous. Auth. v. Cassio, 428 Mass. 112, 113-114, 697 N.E.2d 128 (1998). **857Where it is not settled through mediation, a summary process eviction case may proceed in a bench trial or a jury trial. See Rule 8 of the Uniform Summary Process Rules (1980); Cort v. Majors, 92 Mass. App. Ct. 151, 153, 82 N.E.3d 1089 (2017). If a party wishes to have the matter heard by a jury, he or she must file a demand for a jury trial no later than the due date for the defendant's answer (the Monday following the entry date). See Rule 8 of the Uniform Summary Process Rules. This deadline, however, is not clearly stated on the summons and complaint form or on the summary process answer form.19 An unrepresented tenant may therefore unknowingly miss the deadline to timely notify the court of his or her decision to exercise the constitutional right to trial by jury. See Cort, supra (right to trial by jury declared in art. 15 of Massachusetts Declaration of Rights and incorporated in Mass. R. Civ. P. 38, as amended, 423 Mass. 1406 [1996], and Rule 8 of the Uniform Summary Process Rules ).

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