Very strict. The Massachusetts Appeals Court held that a party who misses the 10-day deadline to appeal an eviction judgment cannot get around it by filing a late motion for reconsideration and then appealing the denial of that motion. This is an unpublished Appeals Court decision under Rule 23.0, which courts may cite as persuasive but not as binding precedent.
What happened
A bank, acting as trustee for a mortgage trust, brought a summary process (eviction) case in the Housing Court to recover possession of a unit from the two people occupying it. The bank moved for summary judgment, and one of the occupants filed a cross motion. After a hearing, the judge denied the bank’s motion, granted the cross motion, and entered judgment for possession in the occupants’ favor on December 5, 2024. The bank did not appeal within 10 days. Instead, 48 days after judgment, it filed a motion for reconsideration. The Housing Court denied that motion, and the bank appealed the denial, arguing only that the original judgment was wrong on the facts and the law.
What the court decided
In Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. v. Fewtrell, No. 25-P-637 (Mass. App. Ct. October 14, 2026) (Rule 23.0 decision), the Appeals Court affirmed the order denying reconsideration. The occupants kept their judgment for possession.
The court started with the deadline. Under G.L. c. 239, § 5 (a), a party who wants to appeal a judgment in a summary process case must file a notice of appeal within 10 days after the judgment enters. The court called that deadline statutory and jurisdictional, and said it cannot be extended. It relied on Liberty Mobilehome Sales, Inc. v. Bernard, 6 Mass. App. Ct. 914 (1978), where the court held that a Housing Court judge had no power to extend the statutory time to appeal in a summary process case. Here, the time to appeal ran out on December 15, 2024.
Next, the court looked at what the bank’s motion really was. The motion did not name any rule. Because it was filed more than 10 days after judgment, the court treated it as a motion for relief from judgment under Mass. R. Civ. P. 60 (b). It cited Muir v. Hall, 37 Mass. App. Ct. 38 (1994), which explains that a rule 60 (b) motion does not stop the clock on an appeal and cannot be used as a substitute for a regular appeal.
The court then applied Commonwealth v. Clark, 67 Mass. App. Ct. 832 (2006). Clark holds that a motion for reconsideration filed after a statutory appeal period has expired cannot bring a dead appeal back to life. Clark also says reconsideration requires a request made within a reasonable time, and a motion filed after the appeal period has run does not qualify.
The bank’s motion only asked the court to change its mind, and raised nothing the bank could not have raised in time. The court said the bank could not use a rule 60 (b) motion to dodge the appeal deadline and get the merits in front of the appellate court long after the judgment became final.
The court rejected the bank’s reading of Muir, noting that Muir involved a 30-day appeal period, while the summary process period is a deliberately short 10 days. It also rejected the bank’s claim of surprise. Any surprise came when the judge ruled, so the bank still could have filed a timely appeal or motion.
What this means for you
This case is a reminder that the 10-day appeal deadline in an eviction case applies to everyone. Here it protected the occupants. The bank lost the case, waited too long, and could not reopen it by calling its late filing a motion for reconsideration.
The same rule can hurt a tenant or occupant who loses. If you lose an eviction case and wait more than 10 days, a later motion asking the judge to reconsider will usually not give you a second chance to appeal the judgment. A rule 60 (b) motion is not a back door to an appeal you did not file. The clock runs from the date the judgment enters on the docket.
What to do now
- Write down the date judgment entered in your case. Count 10 days from that date and treat it as a hard deadline.
- If you think the judge got it wrong, file a notice of appeal inside those 10 days. Do not wait to see whether a motion to reconsider works.
- If you want the judge to reconsider, file that motion right away and still protect your right to appeal. Ask a lawyer how the two filings interact in your case.
- Keep every notice, order, and judgment the court sends you, with the envelope or email showing when it arrived.
- If the other side lost and is filing late motions, do not ignore them. Respond on time and point out that the appeal period has passed.
If this is your situation, call Doubleday Law at (617) 575-2006 or tell us what happened. Housing Court deadlines are short.
