If you lose an eviction trial and want to argue on appeal that the judge got the facts wrong, you must give the appeals court a record of the trial, usually a transcript. In this case the Appeals Court affirmed a post-foreclosure judgment for possession and damages because the occupants appealed claimed factual errors without a trial transcript. This is an unpublished Appeals Court decision under Rule 23.0, which courts may cite as persuasive but not as binding precedent.
What happened
After a foreclosure sale, the bank that bought the property brought a summary process case in the Housing Court against the three people living there. The case went to trial. The judge entered judgment for the bank for possession and damages. The occupants appealed, arguing that the trial judge made five errors in the findings of fact. They did not include a transcript of the trial in the appeal record.
What the court decided
The Appeals Court affirmed in Citizens Bank, N.A. v. Martinez, No. 24-P-1340 (Mass. App. Ct. November 3, 2025) (Rule 23.0 decision). The decision is only a few paragraphs long, and its reasoning is simple.
The burden is on the person appealing. The party who appeals must make sure the appeals court has an adequate record to evaluate the claims. Commonwealth v. Woods, 419 Mass. 366 (1995). That rule comes from a criminal case, but the Appeals Court applies it in civil appeals too. The Massachusetts Rules of Appellate Procedure, including Mass. R. A. P. 8, set out what the record on appeal contains and give the appealing party ways to order the transcript and complete the record.
No transcript, no review. The occupants challenged what the judge found happened at trial. To decide whether a finding was wrong, the appeals court has to see the testimony and evidence the judge relied on. Without a transcript, the court said it had no basis to assess the merits of any of the claims. So it had to affirm. The court never decided whether the findings were right or wrong. The occupants lost because the record was missing.
What this means for you
This is one of the most common ways appeals fail, and it is avoidable. An appeal is not a new trial. The Appeals Court does not hear witnesses or take new evidence. It reviews the record from the trial court. If your argument is that the judge misunderstood the testimony, ignored evidence, or made a finding no witness supported, the appeals court needs the transcript to see that.
Housing Court proceedings are usually recorded. After you file a notice of appeal, you generally must order the transcript of the recording, arrange for it to be prepared, and include it in the record. There are deadlines for each step, and transcripts cost money. If you cannot afford one, you can ask the court to waive or pay certain costs under the indigency rules. Ask early.
The lesson also runs the other way. If you won at trial and the other side appeals without a transcript, that gap can work in your favor. Either way, the record controls what an appeals court can do.
What to do now
- If you plan to appeal, file the notice of appeal on time. Housing Court appeal deadlines are short.
- Order the trial transcript right away and track the deadlines for completing the record.
- If you cannot afford the transcript, file an affidavit of indigency and ask the court for help with the cost.
- Before writing your brief, check that every fact you rely on appears in the transcript or trial exhibits.
- Talk to a lawyer who handles appeals before the record is assembled, not after.
If this is your situation, call Doubleday Law at (617) 575-2006 or tell us what happened. Housing Court deadlines are short.
