Adjartey v. Cent. Div. of the Hous. Court Departmentand, 120 N.E.3d 297 (2019)

Citation: Adjartey v. Cent. Div. of the Hous. Court Departmentand, 120 N.E.3d 297 (2019) 2.
Parent Document: Adjartey v. Cent. Div. of the Hous. Court Departmentand, 120 N.E.3d 297 (2019)
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts (state)
Effective Date: 2019-04-10
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/7178223/adjartey-v-cent-div-of-the-hous... ↗

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2. Waiver of fees and costs based on indigency. Under the Indigent Court Costs Law, G. L. c. 261, §§ 27A - 27G, indigent parties are able to obtain waivers or reductions of various fees and costs (including, for example, filing fees, fees related to the service of process, and appeal bond costs) incurred while litigating a summary process action. See G. L. c. 261, §§ 27A, 27B ; Reade v. Secretary of the Commonwealth, 472 Mass. 573, 574, 36 N.E.3d 519 (2015), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 136 S.Ct. 1729, 194 L.Ed.2d 813 (2016) (describing Indigent Court Cost Law's "mechanism for indigent persons to obtain waivers or reductions of court fees and other costs"). The Indigent Court Costs Law exists to "ensur[e] that the doors of the Commonwealth's courts will not be closed to the poor." Reade, supra. The equitable and consistent application of this law is therefore critically important to safeguarding every Massachusetts litigant's ability to "obtain right and justice freely, and without being obliged to purchase it."14 Art. 11 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights. The facts as alleged, however, demonstrate the various challenges *309presented by the fee and cost waiver application process. We seek to clarify this process here.

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