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DRAFT FOR ATTORNEY REVIEW — NOT FINAL

Section 32D

Citation
Section 32D
Parent Document
Doe v. New Bedford Housing Authority, 630 N.E.2d 248 (1994)
Jurisdiction
Massachusetts (state)
Effective Date
1994-03-14

Other Sections in This Document (121)

Full Text

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"A private nuisance is actionable when a property owner creates, permits, or maintains a condition or activity on his property that causes a substantial and unreasonable interference with the use and enjoyment of the property of another" (emphasis supplied). Asiala v. Fitchburg, 24 Mass. App. Ct. 13, 17 (1987), citing Morash & Sons v. Commonwealth, 363 Mass. 612, 616 (1973), and Leary v. Boston, 20 Mass. App. Ct. 605, 609 (1985). The private nuisance standard described in Asiala requires two different parcels of property: one on which the nuisance condition exists, and another whose occupants are burdened by the nuisance. Thus, although a tenant has a sufficient interest in rented property to bring a nuisance suit for interference with that property, Connerty v. Metropolitan Dist. Comm'n, 398 Mass. 140, 147 (1986), the suit can be brought only against the owner of *289 some other piece of property. A tenant cannot sue his own landlord for a nuisance on the property that the tenant rents from the landlord.[16] The judge properly granted summary judgment on this claim.