- District Court
- Boston Municipal Court
The Chief Justices of the District and Boston Municipal Courts invite comments on the proposed amendments to Rules 3 and 8C of the District/Municipal Courts Rules for Appellate Division Appeal.
Rule 3 addresses the notice of appeal to the Appellate Division. To bring Rule 3(c) into conformity with current practice, a proposed amendment removes the requirement in Rule 3(c)(4) for an appellant, who is appealing from a trial court ruling and who is already required to identify the ruling in the notice of appeal under Rule 3(c)(3), to also attach to the notice of appeal a copy of the motion or request giving rise to the ruling. To recognize the use of For the Record systems to digitally record trial proceedings in District Court and Boston Municipal Court, further proposed amendments remove both the appellant’s opportunity in Rule 3(c)(5) to request in its notice of appeal, and the trial court clerk’s duty in Rule 3(d) to produce upon such request, a cassette or compact disc recording of the trial proceedings.
Rule 8C addresses the method of appeal to the Appellate Division in which an appellant may proceed with its appeal by use of a transcript. Similar to the proposed amendments to Rule 3 mentioned above, the proposed amendments to Rule 8C recognize the use of For the Record systems to digitally record trial proceedings in District Court and Boston Municipal Court. The amendments to Rule 8C model those to Mass. R. App. P. 8 for requesting and producing a transcript of an electronically recorded proceeding and, similarly, direct parties to follow procedures set by the Chief Justice of the Trial Court in an Administrative Order.
Comments should be directed, on or before January 15, 2021, to:
Chief Justice Paul Dawley, c/o Brien Cooper, Clerk of the District Court Appellate Division, at brien.cooper@jud.state.ma.us, or Administrative Office of the District Court, Edward W. Brooke Courthouse, 24 New Chardon St., Boston, 02114.
Chief Justice Roberto Ronquillo Jr., c/o Ronald DeRosa, Deputy Legal Counsel, at ronald.derosa@jud.state.ma.us, or Administrative Office of the Boston Municipal Court, Edward W. Brooke Courthouse, 24 New Chardon St., Boston, 02114.
Comments will be made available to the public upon request.