Greenfield Country Estates Tenants Ass'n v. Deep

3 Mass. L. Rptr. 300
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedFebruary 15, 1995
DocketNo. 94052
StatusPublished

This text of 3 Mass. L. Rptr. 300 (Greenfield Country Estates Tenants Ass'n v. Deep) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Greenfield Country Estates Tenants Ass'n v. Deep, 3 Mass. L. Rptr. 300 (Mass. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

Spina, J.

This matter is before the Court on Plaintiffs Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, and on Defendant Deep’s Motion for Summary Judgment. The Plaintiff seeks a partial summary judgment declaring that it is entitled to a right of first refusal/option to purchase a mobile home park in accordance with the provisions of G.L. Ch. 140, Sec. 32R, together with certain procedural rights afforded by that law. Defendant Deep obliquely seeks summary judgment declaring that Plaintiff lacks standing to maintain this action, that Plaintiff has failed in its proof, and that G.L. Ch. 140, Sec. 32Ris unconstitutional. The following facts are not in dispute.

G.L. Ch. 140, Sec. 32R was added by St. 1993, c. 145. That law, which contains an emergency preamble, was signed into law by the governor on August 13, 1993, and creates a right of first refusal in favor of tenants of manufactured housing communities, formerly known as mobile home parks.

On October 9, 1993 Defendant Elizabeth Zewinski (Zewinski), owner of land in Greenfield, Massachusetts used as a mobile home park (the park), entered into a purchase and sale agreement with Defendant Deep whereby Zewinski agreed to sell the park to Deep and Deep agreed to purchase the park for the sum of [301]*301$600,000. Zewinski had listed the property for sale in July, 1993.

On December 13, 1993 Zewinski conveyed the park to Defendant Michael A. Deep, Trustee of Greenfield Mobile Home Park Realty Trust (Trust) for $600,000. Neither Zewinski’s tenants, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Communities and Development, or the Greenfield Board of Health was notified of Zewinski’s intent to sell the park, or the fact of sale, until December 14, 1993. The tenants received a letter dated December 13, 1993 sent by Deep introducing the Trust as the new owner of the park, and further offering on behalf of his insurance agency to write mobile home insurance and automobile insurance for them at substantial savings.

On January 20, 1994 counsel for 55 of the park’s 66 tenants sent a letter to Deep and the Trust demanding information as to the terms of sale of the park, and further demanded that Deep and the Trust actively participate to sell the park to those tenants, all pursuant to G.L. Ch. 140, Sec. 32R. The Trust refused to recognize the tenant group.

Suit was commenced in Franklin County Superior Court on May 11, 1994 by the group of 55 tenants under the name Greenfield Country Estates Tenants Association, an unincorporated association whose members’ names and addresses were attached to and incorporated into the complaint. The group subsequently formed a non-profit corporation, the Plaintiff, on or about May 21, 1994 and the individual members executed assignments of their interest in the subject matter of this action to the Plaintiff. The Plaintiff was substituted for the unincorporated association as plaintiff in this action.

DISCUSSION

Summary judgment shall be granted where there are no genuine issues as to any material fact and where the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Cassesso v. Commissioner of Correction, 390 Mass. 419, 422 (1983); Community Nat’l Bank v. Dawes, 369 Mass. 550, 553 (1976); Mass. R. Civ. P. 56(c). The moving party bears the burden of affirmatively demonstrating the absence of a triable issue, “and [further] that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Pederson v. Time, Inc., 404 Mass. 14, 16-17 (1989). A party moving for summary judgment who does not have the burden of proof at trial may demonstrate the absence of a triable issue either by submitting affirmative evidence that negates an essential element of the opponent’s case or “by demonstrating that proof of that element is unlikely to be forthcoming at trial.” Flesner v. Technical Communications Corp., 410 Mass. 805, 809 (1991); accord, Kourouvacilis v. General Motors Corp., 410 Mass. 706, 716 (1991). “If the moving party establishes the absence of a triable issue, the party opposing the motion must respond and allege specific facts which would establish the existence of a genuine issue of material fact in order to defeat [the] motion.” Pederson, supra, 404 Mass, at 17. “]T]he opposing party cannot rest on his or her pleadings and mere assertions of disputed facts to defeat the motion for summary judgment.” LaLonde v. Eissner, 405 Mass. 297, 209 (1989).

A. Factual Issues

Deep has raised two factual issues, not by counter affidavit, but by motion to strike affidavits filed in support of plaintiffs motion for partial summary judgment. He contends that the affidavits in question are not made by persons with sufficient competence, that is, that the subject matter of those affidavits requires expert testimony. The subjects in question involve the meaning of the terms “manufactured home” as defined in G.L. Ch. 140, Sec. 32Q, and “manufactured housing community” (MHC) as defined in G.L. Ch. 140, Sec. 32F.

(1) Manufactured Home (mobile home)

The six tenant affidavits to which Deep objects each contain a statement of the size of the respective tenant’s mobile home, together with a statement describing a “Data Plate” affixed to that tenant’s mobile home. Each “Data Plate” is said to state that the mobile home to which it is affixed was “built in conformance to the National Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards.” Deep argues that those affidavits are not competent and that expert testimony/affidavits are required to prove that any particular manufactured home meets the National Manufactured Home Construction and Safely Standards (Construction Standards).

The term “manufactured home” is defined in Sec. 32Q as “a structure, built in conformance to the National Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards ...” Those standards are published in Chapter XX of Title 24 CFR (Revised as of April 1, 1994). Current federal regulations require each manufactured home to bear a “data plate” containing the statement:

This manufactured home is designed to comply with the Federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards in force at the time of manufacture. 24 CFR §3280.5(c).

The term “manufactured home” replaced the term “mobile home” in Sec. 32Q as a result of enactment of St. 1991, c.481, s.19. That same enactment also redesignated “mobile home park” to “manufactured housing community” as used in Sec. 32F and elsewhere in the statute (Secs. 32A to 32S). Predecessor regulations appearing in CFR had been similarly re-designated, but by 1980. See 42 U.S.C. Secs. 3535(d), 5403; Pub. L. 96-399. See also 40FR 58752 (1975), 42 FR 960 (1-4-77), and 44 FR 20679 (4-6-79). The federal law is pre-emptive as to the term “manufactured home.” See 42 USC Sec. 5403(d).

If Deep is correct and expert testimony is required to establish that a particular mobile home is a “man[302]*302ufactured home” within the meaning of Sec. 32Q, then a mobile home owner would be put to a level of expense that would virtually place the protections of the statutory scheme out of reach of the very people the statute was designed to protect: the poor and people of modest means. The Construction Standards set forth in Chapter XX of Title 24 U.S.C. are so voluminous, complex, and involve so many different

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3 Mass. L. Rptr. 300, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/greenfield-country-estates-tenants-assn-v-deep-masssuperct-1995.