Summary process is not summary
      Judge Herb Goodwin of Brookline Municipal Court took 49 days after an eviction trial to come to a decision about evicting a non-paying tenant. The case was heard September 10 and decided October 29.
      Evictions are called “summary process” (“summary” means “speedy and without ceremony”) because it was determined a long time ago that landlords would suffer unfairly if evictions were subject to the usual slow pace of ordinary trials. Moreover, the law bars any stays of eviction for non-payment cases.
      In the Brookline case, the tenant was in arrears $1,040 and had already been given two previous eviction notices for non-payment.
      The Brookline landlord in the case calculated that the loss of this one tenantâs rent would result in a $1.50 per week or 2% increase in the rent for each room in the 21-room rooming house where the non-paying tenant is living.
      Judge Goodwin is the founder of the Brookline Tenants Union. The tenant gets 10 days to appeal, another 10 days of free rent.