308 Mass. 397 | Mass. | 1941
This is a petition for a writ of certiorari. It was heard by a justice of this court on the petition and return. He ordered the petition dismissed. The petitioner excepted.
The petitioner, as appears from the return, was the defendant in an action brought against him under the small claims procedure (G. L. [Ter. Ed.] c. 218, §§ 21-25; see also St. 1937, c. 310) in the Municipal Court for the Roxbury District of Boston for property damage resulting from a collision of automobiles. There was a judgment for the plaintiff. The defendant in that action — the petitioner here — seeks in substance to have the judgment quashed and "such order, judgment or decree as law and justice may require.” See G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 249, § 4.
Since, in any event, the decision must be adverse to the petitioner, we assume in his favor (see Webster v. Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, 295 Mass. 572) that a petition for a writ of certiorari will lie to correct error of law in- an action tried under the small claims procedure in the circumstances disclosed by the return. Compare Swan v. Justices of the Superior Court, 222 Mass. 542, 543-544; Merchants Mutual Casualty Co. v. Justices of the Superior Court, 291 Mass. 164, 165. The return as extended was somewhat defective in form. See Walsh v. District Court of Springfield, 297 Mass. 472, 473. Neither party, however, has raised this point and it must be treated as waived. Byfield v. Newton, 247 Mass. 46, 53. The return as extended "must be taken to set out an accurate record of the proceedings and to be true and conclusive as to all matters of fact within the jurisdiction of the respondent.” Whitney v. Judge of the District Court of Northern Berkshire, 271 Mass. 448, 457. The sole question presented is whether the return, as extended, discloses any material error of law in the proceedings in the Municipal Court. Mayor of Medford v. Judge of First District Court of Eastern Middlesex, 249 Mass. 465, 468.
It appears, therefore, that the defendant in the original case — the petitioner here — was represented by counsel at the hearing, that such counsel conducted a part of the cross-examination of the plaintiff as a witness, and was present throughout the hearing, advising the defendant, and that the presiding judge gave the defendant an opportunity to testify and an opportunity to introduce other evidence, but that, by advice of counsel, he did not avail himself of these opportunities. His grievance is merely that the presiding judge, after instructing counsel for the defendant who “did not assist the court” “not to waste too much time” in cross-examining the plaintiff as a wit
The question for determination is not whether in a trial under ordinary procedure, in a case such as was being heard, the action of the judge would have deprived the defendant of any legal right, but, rather, whether the defendant was deprived of any right that he had at a hearing under the small claims procedure as provided by statute and rules made thereunder.
G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 218, § 21, provides in part that the “justices or a majority of them of all the district courts . . . shall make uniform rules applicable to said courts ... providing for a simple, informal and inexpensive procedure, hereinafter called the procedure, for the determinatian, according to the rules of substantive law, of claims in the nature of contract or tort, other than slander and libel, in which the plaintiff does not claim as debt or damages more than fifty dollars .... The procedure shall not be exclusive, but shall be alternative to the formal procedure for causes begun by writ.” Section 22, as amended by St. 1937, c. 310, provides in part that the “procedure may include the modification of any or all rules of pleading and practice, anything contained in other chapters, sections or acts notwithstanding.” Section 23 provides in part that a “plaintiff beginning a cause under the procedure shall be deemed to have waived a trial by jury and any right of appeal to the superior court and any right to a report to an appellate division .... No other party to a cause under the procedure shall be entitled to an appeal or report. In lieu thereof, any such party may, prior to the day upon which he is notified to appear, file in the court where the cause is pending a claim of trial by jury, and his affidavit that there are questions of fact in the cause requiring trial, with specifications thereof, and that such trial is
This statute “was intended by the Legislature to provide a simple, prompt, and informal means, at small expense, for adjudication of” small claims. McLaughlin v. Levenbaum, 248 Mass. 170, 175-176. The language of the statute makes this general purpose clear. But the report of the Judicature Commission (1920 House Document 597) recommending the passage of such a statute, in terms substantially the same as the statute passed upon such recommendation (see St. 1920, c. 553), throws light upon the purpose and meaning of the statute. See Boston Safe Deposit & Trust Co. v. Commissioner of Corporations & Taxation, 273 Mass. 212, 214. See also Carlos Ruggles Lumber Co. v. Commonwealth, 261 Mass. 445, 447-448. In that report, on pages 11, 12, 14, it was said, in part, that “the fact remains that the judicial machinery fails to provide a fair opportunity in many small cases. ... All that is necessary is to make it clear that the police, district and municipal courts shall by rule provide that persons having claims under a certain amount may bring them directly before the judge, simply, without expense, and without formality, and let the judge dispose of the matter then and there, as courts of this nature are doing successfully in other jurisdictions in thousands of cases to-day. The question of the amount at which to fix the limit of the jurisdiction has been a matter of discussion. This amount varies in different places in other jurisdictions. The Commission suggests that it should be fixed at $35. [This amount was so fixed by St. 1920, c. 553, but was increased to $50 by St. 1928, c. 144.] Most claims under that amount, while of considerable importance to persons
Rule 7 of the Rules of the District Courts for Small Claims Procedure (1932), in force when this case was brought and was heard, provided in part that “Witnesses shall be sworn; but the court shall conduct the hearing in such order and form, and with such methods of proof, as it deems best suited to discover the facts and to determine the justice of the case.” See now Rule 7 of the Rules of the District Courts for Small Claims Procedure (1940).
As stated in the statute the small claims procedure is “alternative to the formal procedure.” Parties try cases under the small claims procedure only if, they elect to do so. The plaintiff has a free choice. The defendant has a choice subject to certain limitations that cannot be said to be unreasonable. See Fratantonio v. Atlantic Refining Co. 297 Mass. 21, and cases cited. The defendant in the case under consideration, by failing to take the steps required by the statute to obtain a trial of the action under formal procedure, must be taken to have assented to a trial of the action in accordance with the statute and the existing rules made thereunder governing cases brought under the small claims procedure.
The statute governing small claims procedure expressly requires that claims are to be determined “according to
Rule 7 made under the statute deals with that part of “practice” that relates to the hearing of a case by providing in substance that a judge shall have wide discretion in conducting the hearing as to “order and form” and “methods of proof” in matters that in formal procedure are governed by fixed rules or principles. The rule, in this respect, so far as it bears upon the hearing of a case, seems to be within the purpose of the statute to make the procedure “simple, informal and inexpensive.” The statute “was intended to afford the court full power to prevent its being used contrary to the purposes of its enactment.” McLaughlin v. Levenbaum, 248 Mass. 170, 176. The statute would fail of its purpose if it merely substituted for established rules or principles applicable to ordinary procedure another set of detailed rules for the trial of cases under the small claims procedure. The informality that is to characterize a hearing under the small claims procedure imports that the judge may be permitted by rule to exercise a wide discretion. And discretion “implies the absence of a hard-and-fast rule.” Long v. George, 296 Mass. 574, 578. But the discretion exercised, of course, must be a sound judicial discretion and not arbitrary action.
The return does not show that the trial judge failed to exercise sound judicial discretion within the scope of Rule 7. It does not appear that the defendant did not have reasonable opportunity to prepare his case with the assistance of counsel. See Ott v. Board of Registration of Medicine, 276 Mass. 566, 573-574. And the return does not disclose that the hearing was not conducted in a manner that the judge might reasonably deem “best suited to discover the
The defendant, in support of his contention that he was denied a proper hearing, relies upon the principle stated in Powell v. Alabama, 287 U. S. 45, 69 — a capital case — where the court said that if “in any case, civil or criminal, a state or federal court were arbitrarily to refuse to hear a party by counsel, employed by and appearing for him, it reasonably may not be doubted that such a refusal would be a denial of a hearing, and, therefore, of due process in the constitutional sense.” Of course we do not question the
The statute relating to small claims procedure, however, contemplates, if necessary, more active participation of the judge in the conduct of the hearing than is usual under formal procedure. Obviously it was intended by the statute to provide a form of hearing in which assistance of parties by counsel would not be required, since it was contemplated that in many, if not most, cases the parties would not be so assisted. (Indeed, in the present case, the plaintiff was not assisted by counsel.) And in such cases active participation by the judge in the examination of witnesses ordinarily would be essential for discovery of the facts and determination of the justice of the case. The defendant could not, by being represented by counsel, change the essential nature of the hearing to which he had assented. He could not by being so represented relieve the judge of his duty under the statute and rule to “conduct the hearing in such order and form, and with such methods of proof” as in the sound
The single justice who heard the petition for a writ of certiorari made a ruling
Exceptions overruled.
Petition dismissed with costs.
The ruling was as follows: “I rule that under the act providing for small claims procedure and the rules of the district courts made in pursuance of that act a party has not the same right that he has in ordinary proceedings before a court to have the examination of witnesses conducted by counsel, but I rule that the judge has a right in his discretion to conduct the examination of the witnesses himself, and to deny to counsel the right or privilege of examination or cross-examination of witnesses, even though the party desires to have counsel act for him in that regard.” — Reporter.