Mozek v. City of Revere

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Mozek v. City of Revere

824 N.E.2d 875, 443 Mass. 1020, 2005 Mass. LEXIS 156

CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

DecidedApril 5, 2005

StatusPublished

This text of 824 N.E.2d 875 (Mozek v. City of Revere) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Mozek v. City of Revere, 824 N.E.2d 875, 443 Mass. 1020, 2005 Mass. LEXIS 156 (Mass. 2005).

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Opinion

George Mozek filed a complaint seeking relief in the nature of certiorari, G. L. c. 249, § 4, in the Supreme Judicial Court for Suffolk County. He alleged that, because he timely had claimed a right to trial by jury in an underlying civil action, a judge in the Superior Court violated his constitutional rights by conducting a summary judgment proceeding instead of a jury trial. But see, e.g., Kourouvacilis v. General Motors Corp., 410 Mass. 706, 716 (1991). In addition, he claimed that “irregularities" in the Superior Court’s procedures and docketing deprived him of due process of law. Mozek sought an order requiring the Superior Court to certify the record to this court, and to “desist" from further proceedings pending review.²

The single justice properly denied relief. Review under G. L. c. 249, § 4, is available, in the words of the statute, to “correct errors in proceedings . . . which . . . are not otherwise reviewable by motion or by appeal.’’ “[C]ertiorari does not provide an additional or alternative avenue of appellate review.” Picciotto v. Superior Court Dep’t of the Trial Court, 437 Mass. 1019, 1020 (2002). Here, Mozek has or had an alternative remedy to certiorari, [1021]*1021i.e., the ordinary appellate process. The fact that he raised constitutional issues associated with the right to a jury trial does not alter that analysis.

George Mozek, pro se. Walter H. Porr, Jr., Assistant City Solicitor (Paul Capizzi, City Solicitor, with him) for city of Revere & another.

Judgment affirmed.

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George Mozek filed a complaint seeking relief in the nature of certiorari, G. L. c. 249, § 4, in the Supreme Judicial Court for Suffolk County. He alleged that, because he timely had claimed a right to trial by jury in an underlying civil action, a judge in the Superior Court violated his constitutional rights by conducting a summary judgment proceeding instead of a jury trial. But see, e.g., Kourouvacilis v. General Motors Corp., 410 Mass. 706, 716 (1991). In addition, he claimed that “irregularities" in the Superior Court’s procedures and docketing deprived him of due process of law. Mozek sought an order requiring the Superior Court to certify the record to this court, and to “desist" from further proceedings pending review.²

The single justice properly denied relief. Review under G. L. c. 249, § 4, is available, in the words of the statute, to “correct errors in proceedings . . . which . . . are not otherwise reviewable by motion or by appeal.’’ “[C]ertiorari does not provide an additional or alternative avenue of appellate review.” Picciotto v. Superior Court Dep’t of the Trial Court, 437 Mass. 1019, 1020 (2002). Here, Mozek has or had an alternative remedy to certiorari, [1021]*1021i.e., the ordinary appellate process. The fact that he raised constitutional issues associated with the right to a jury trial does not alter that analysis.

George Mozek, pro se. Walter H. Porr, Jr., Assistant City Solicitor (Paul Capizzi, City Solicitor, with him) for city of Revere & another.

Judgment affirmed.

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Bluebook (online)

824 N.E.2d 875, 443 Mass. 1020, 2005 Mass. LEXIS 156, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mozek-v-city-of-revere-mass-2005.

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