Issue: In Massachusetts, can the appeal process begin before an Appellate Division decision is final?
| Area of Law: | Litigation & Procedure |
| Keywords: | Appeal process; Final decision of the appellate division |
| Jurisdiction: | Massachusetts |
| Cited Cases: | 120 N.E. 141; 474 N.E.2d 177; 11 Mass. App. Ct. 440; 400 N.E.2d 871; 737 N.E.2d 885; 398 N.E.2d 763; 474 N.E.2d 1093; 370 N.E.2d 454; 416 N.E.2d 1007; 139 N.E.2d 391 |
| Cited Statutes: | None |
| Date: | 01/01/2001 |
To be appealable, an Appellate Division decision must be “final.” Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 231, § 109. Several Massachusetts cases illustrate this point. For example, in Redfield v. Abbott Shoe Co., 335 Mass. 208, 139 N.E.2d 391 (1957), the defendant brought a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, and after the trial court denied the motion, the Appellate Division affirmed. Id. at 208, 139 N.E.2d at 392. The defendant’s appeal to the Supreme Judicial Court was dismissed. The Supreme Judicial Court stated:
An appeal to this court Ashall lie from the final decision of the appellate division of any district court.@ This means only a final decision. AThe test of finality of a decision is whether it terminates the litigation on its merits, directs what judgment shall be entered, and leaves nothing to the judicial discretion of the trial court, and not whether it is the last word of the appellate division on the particular aspect of the litigation at the moment pending before it, directing additional proceedings before the trial court in order than a final conclusion may thereafter be reached.@
Id. (quoting Real Property Co. v. Pitt, 230 Mass. 526, 528, 120 N.E. 141, 142 (1918)).
Similarly, in Cifizzari v. D’Annunzio, 394 Mass. 149, 474 N.E.2d 1093 (1985), the Appellate Division rejected a landlord’s appeal in a district court case brought by his tenant, in […]