The court should schedule the case for prompt trial. A district court that does not have a jury session is responsible for scheduling bench trials in that division.
Commentary
Small claims trials before a jury or judge are designated as "speedy trial[s]" by statute and therefore the court must give them priority. G.L. c. 218, s. 23. The statutory goals of a simple, informal, and inexpensive procedure are frustrated when the litigants on appeal are not given a trial date that is within two or three months from filing or are subjected to many continuances because their cases are treated as secondary to the criminal docket. The court must therefore schedule a prompt trial upon receiving the appeal claim and make sure that small claims cases are not set down for days with a heavy volume of criminal trials.
Although it is always appropriate for the court to encourage settlement (see Standards 5:06 and 6:06), the court should not place undue pressure on the parties to settle or to waive a jury trial because of a crowded docket.
If a court has separate jury and jury-waived trial lists, the clerk's office should note carefully whether the defendant has requested a jury trial or a trial before a judge and place each case on the appropriate list. A District Court that does not have a jury session must try jury-waived cases in that division; those cases should not be sent to the court designated for jury trials. Uniform Small Claims Rule 7(a).
Pursuant to G.L. c. 218, s. 23, the court may require pleadings pursuant to the Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure, but the court should rarely exercise this power so as not to frustrate the goals of the small claims procedure. The court should not entertain motions for summary judgment. Todino v. Arbella Mutual Ins. Co., 415 Mass. 298 (1993) (summary judgment not available to defendant).