The Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled on Nov. 9 that a Fall River Housing Authority tenant evicted from his home could not use the court's extraordinary power to get back in, because an ordinary appeal was available to him. The order in Moton v. Fall River Housing Authority does not decide whether the eviction was proper.
The court also said Jerome Moton had not shown why he could not have asked the Appeals Court to expedite his appeal. He argued that an appeal would take too long after an eviction.
What he asked for
Moton's August 2026 petition asked the SJC to return him to the property, return his belongings, cancel the judgments against him and lift filing restrictions placed on him. He relied on G. L. c. 211, section 3, the statute that gives the SJC general oversight of lower courts and lets it act to "correct and prevent errors and abuses" where no other remedy is expressly provided.
One justice of the SJC declined to reach the merits, and the full court reviewed only whether that was an abuse of discretion. The order quotes earlier SJC rulings that "[t]he single justice is not required to become involved if the petitioner has an adequate alternative remedy or if the single justice determines, in his or her discretion, that the subject of the petition is not sufficiently important and extraordinary as to require general superintendence intervention."
How the case got there
The housing authority brought a summary process case, the Massachusetts eviction case, in Housing Court. After an agreed judgment and an amended agreed judgment in its favor, it asked for an execution, and one issued in December 2025. An execution is the step that allows the eviction to be carried out.
The Housing Court denied Moton's request to stay it. An Appeals Court single justice stayed it temporarily, then denied a stay in March 2026. The execution was reissued, and the Housing Court denied his request for relief from the judgment. A separate suit he filed in Superior Court was moved to the Housing Court and dismissed in July 2026. He went to the SJC in August, about eight months after the first execution.
The route the court pointed to
Both Housing Court cases had reached final judgment, the court said, so he could have appealed in the ordinary way. Under G. L. c. 239, section 5, a party appealing a judgment in an eviction case must file a notice of appeal within 10 days after the judgment is entered. A tenant appealing a judgment for possession generally has to post a bond covering rent already owed and rent that comes due during the appeal, unless a court waives it for a tenant who is indigent and has a defense that is not frivolous. The order does not discuss the deadline or the bond.
For his belongings, which his petition said were retained in violation of section 4, the court noted that the statute lets a tenant petition the court that heard the eviction case for relief from a violation of that section. The section also requires an officer who removes belongings to have them stored, and a storage lien cannot be enforced by sale until six months have passed. The court said Moton had not shown why that remedy and an ordinary appeal were inadequate.
The case was decided on the papers, without argument, and Moton represented himself. The order does not say whether an ordinary appeal is pending. The record gives no next court date.
