In this case, yes. The Appeals Court held that a bankruptcy trustee could use a Housing Court eviction case to remove a homeowner who had agreed, with bankruptcy court approval, to sell his house free of occupants and then moved in instead. The homeowner could not reargue the sale in Housing Court because the bankruptcy court had already decided it. This is an unpublished Appeals Court decision under Rule 23.0, which courts may cite as persuasive but not as binding precedent.
What happened
The homeowner filed for bankruptcy in 2018 while he owned a property in Dorchester. With the bankruptcy judge’s approval, he agreed to sell it to a buyer, and the purchase and sale agreement required delivery free and clear of tenants and occupants. Shortly after the bankruptcy judge ordered the sale to close, the homeowner and several family members moved into the property. The Housing Court judge inferred this was meant to block the sale. The buyer sued in bankruptcy court for specific performance, and after a trial the bankruptcy judge ordered the trustee to convey the property to the buyer. The federal Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed that judgment in September 2024. Meanwhile, the trustee filed an eviction case in Housing Court and won possession.
What the court decided
The Appeals Court affirmed. Cruickshank v. Lozano, No. 24-P-273 (Mass. App. Ct. May 29, 2025) (Rule 23.0 decision).
The trustee had standing. When a bankruptcy case is filed, the debtor’s legal and equitable interests in property become property of the bankruptcy estate. 11 U.S.C. § 541(a)(1). The bankruptcy judge appointed the trustee to run that estate, so the trustee could bring an eviction case to carry out the federal judgment and deliver the house empty, as the agreement required. The Housing Court judge found that any right the homeowner had to live there ended when the bankruptcy court ordered the sale enforced. That gave the trustee a prima facie case for possession.
The homeowner could not relitigate the sale. He argued the conveyance judgment was invalid because he had not breached the agreement. The court applied issue preclusion, which stops a party from relitigating an issue already decided in an earlier case. Under Petrillo v. Zoning Bd. of Appeals of Cohasset, 65 Mass. App. Ct. 453 (2006), it requires a final judgment on the merits, the same parties or those in privity with them, and an identical issue that was actually litigated and essential to the first judgment. All of those were met. The First Circuit’s affirmance made the judgment final. The homeowner was a party in bankruptcy court and had a full and fair opportunity to litigate there. The issue, whether he breached the agreement, was the same one, and it was essential to the order enforcing the sale.
No due process violation. The Housing Court judge held a trial where the self-represented homeowner could cross-examine the trustee and present his case. The Appeals Court found the judge guided the trial in a neutral but engaged way. It also noted the homeowner had proposed the sale himself, found and accepted the buyer, and asked the bankruptcy court to approve it.
What this means for you
Filing for bankruptcy changes who controls your home. Your interest in it becomes property of the bankruptcy estate, and a trustee appointed to run the estate can act to carry out court orders about it. If you agree to sell, and the bankruptcy court approves and later enforces that sale, moving back in did not stop it here. The Housing Court treated the final bankruptcy judgment as settled.
The bigger lesson is about where to fight. If you think a sale or agreement in bankruptcy is wrong, the place to say so is the bankruptcy court, and then on appeal from it. Housing Court is not a second chance to argue the same issue. Waiting to raise it in an eviction case almost always comes too late.
If you are a family member or other occupant in a home under a bankruptcy sale, you may face eviction too. The trustee here sought to remove the homeowner and his family so the house could be delivered empty.
What to do now
- Before you agree to sell a home in bankruptcy, get advice on what free of tenants and occupants will require of you and your family.
- Read every bankruptcy court order about your property and note any deadlines.
- If you disagree with a bankruptcy order, raise it in that court and appeal on time.
- If you get an eviction notice from a trustee, do not ignore it. File an answer and go to every hearing.
- Bring copies of the bankruptcy orders and the sale agreement to Housing Court so the judge sees the full picture.
If this is your situation, call Doubleday Law at (617) 575-2006 or tell us what happened. Housing Court deadlines are short.
