PUBLIC PETITION TO DISSOLVE AND REFORM THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSING COURT, REMOVE CORRUPTED JUDGES AND UNETHICAL LAWYERS, AND END EX-PARTE COMMUNICATIONS AND SYSTEMIC LANDLORD BIAS

TO: The Governor of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Legislature, the Supreme Judicial Court, the Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct, the Board of Bar Overseers, and all relevant oversight authorities.

FROM: The Undersigned Concerned Residents, Tenants, and Voters of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

PREAMBLE

We, the undersigned residents of Massachusetts, hereby submit this public petition to demand the immediate dissolution and reformation of the Massachusetts Housing Court; the removal, investigation, and disbarment of corrupted judges, clerks, and attorneys; and a complete overhaul of a system that we allege has devolved from a neutral forum for justice into a taxpayer-funded weapon for wealthy luxury landlords and real estate conglomerates.

We allege that the Massachusetts Housing Court no longer functions as a “people’s court.” Instead, it has become, in practice, a landlord’s courthouse—and specifically a rich, luxury landlord courthouse—where big-money real estate interests and their retained counsel enjoy systemic advantages while tenant rights are silenced, stripped, and crushed. We allege that this corruption is a direct and avoidable driver of the Commonwealth’s severe homelessness crisis, violating the fundamental principle that housing is a human right.

I. ALLEGATIONS OF SYSTEMIC JUDICIAL CORRUPTION AND EX-PARTE COMMUNICATIONS

We allege that corruption within the Housing Court is rampant and difficult to fully quantify. We specifically allege that certain judges and court personnel engage in, permit, or benefit from unethical ex-parte communications in their chambers with luxury-apartment landlord counsel, effectively rigging outcomes before tenants ever reach the courtroom.

We name the following judges and court personnel including but not limited to as subjects of this petition, noting that additional names will be added as more evidence is gathered:

Judge Gustavo A. Del Puerto
Judge Michael Malamut
Judge Joseph E. Kelleher
Judge Benjamin O. Adeyinka
Judge Irene Bagdoian
Court Clerk Mr. Matthew Bourdeau

We allege that these individuals, and others like them, cater to luxurious apartment complexes and wealthy real estate owners; protect landlords who refuse to make repairs; strip tenants of their statutory and constitutional rights; deny jury trials; issue frivolous defaults; and rubber-stamp wrongful evictions. We allege that many of these judges were once lawyers for the very same luxury properties that now appear before them, creating irreconcilable conflicts of interest and corrupt backchannels that make fair adjudication impossible.

II. ALLEGATIONS AGAINST UNETHICAL LAWYERS AND LAW FIRMS

We allege that certain luxury-real-estate attorneys have turned the Housing Court into their personal playground through lobbying in judges’ chambers, conflict-of-interest arrangements, and brazen abuse of the summary process system. We name the following attorneys and affiliations as subjects of this petition, noting that this list is preliminary and will expand:

Attorney Donna Ashton of Bozzuto Management, who we allege acts as though she owns the Housing Court and its judges, wielding wrongful eviction practices as the self-proclaimed “queen of eviction” in Massachusetts;

Attorney James Howard Van Dyke, Esq., who we allege secures advantages through his law firm’s affiliation with retired Judge MaryLou Muirhead (former First Justice of the Boston Housing Court);

Attorney James Lockett at Holland & Knight LLP, who we allege commits frequent conflicts of interest with Housing Court judges;

Attorney Albert A. DeNapoli, Esq., who we allege lobbies judges in their chambers to win his cases.

We allege that these attorneys, and others to be named, file frivolous and bad-faith summary process actions in staggering numbers, destroying the reputations and housing stability of good tenants and eroding public trust in the judiciary.

III. THE FAILURE TO PROTECT TENANTS AND THE DESTRUCTION OF DUE PROCESS

We allege the following systemic failures:

The Housing Court has abandoned equal protection. It is no longer a neutral forum; it is a venue where tenants are presumed disposable.
Big-money real estate complexes file frivolous, bad-faith summary process cases knowing that corrupted judges will protect them as long as favorable treatment continues.
Tenants who exercise their rights—requesting repairs, disputing illegal rent increases, or demanding safe conditions—are retaliated against via the court system.
Corrupted judges have reportedly stripped tenants of their right to a jury trial and frivolously defaulted tenants solely to accelerate immediate eviction, depriving residents of due process and their day in court.
The Court’s bias, prejudice, and discrimination have permanently silenced tenant voices, making it impossible for ordinary residents to exercise their rights without fear of retaliatory displacement.
Taxpayer dollars fund the salaries of judges and clerks who, we allege, use public resources to systematically displace Massachusetts residents and fuel a homelessness crisis that was entirely avoidable.
 

IV. THE HUMAN COST: MASSACHUSETTS’ HOMELESSNESS CRISIS

We allege that the Housing Court’s corruption is not an abstract failure of governance—it is a root cause of homelessness in Massachusetts. Every week, excessive and unjust evictions ordered by compromised judges force vulnerable families into shelters, streets, and instability. If our lawmakers do not act now to dissolve and reform this court, there will eventually be no secure tenants left in the Commonwealth—only displaced residents and vacant luxury units.

V. HOUSING IS A HUMAN RIGHT

We declare that housing is a fundamental human right. All citizens of Massachusetts deserve safe, stable, and affordable housing. This right is not a privilege for the wealthy but a basic necessity for human dignity, health, and economic participation. A judicial system that actively displaces its citizens for profit is not only failing in its duties but is committing a grave injustice against the people it is sworn to protect. The actions of the Housing Court are a direct assault on this fundamental right.

VI. DEMANDS FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION

We therefore demand the following:

Dissolve and Reform the Massachusetts Housing Court. The current structure is irreparably compromised and must be replaced with a transparent, accountable tribunal that guarantees equal protection for landlords and tenants alike.

Investigate and Remove Corrupted Judges and Court Personnel. Launch immediate, public investigations into Judges Gustavo A. Del Puerto, Michael Malamut, Joseph E. Kelleher, Benjamin O. Adeyinka, Irene Bagdoian, and Clerk Matthew Bourdeau, as well as any other judges or clerks found to be engaging in ex-parte communications or accepting unethical influence.

Investigate and Unlicense Corrupt Attorneys. Refer Attorneys Donna Ashton, James Howard Van Dyke, James Lockett, Albert A. DeNapoli, and their respective firms to the Board of Bar Overseers for immediate investigation, suspension, and disbarment where warranted.

Expose Financial Corruption. Demand full transparency regarding judicial salaries, appointments, outside payments, gifts, and any kickbacks or benefits tied to luxury real estate interests.
End Frivolous Bad-Faith Filings. Enact strict penalties against landlords and counsel who file frivolous or retaliatory summary process actions.

Restore Due Process and Jury Rights. Guarantee that no tenant may be stripped of a jury trial or defaulted through judicial misconduct.

Protect Tenants Exercising Their Rights. Prohibit retaliation through the courts against tenants who demand repairs or assert legal protections.
 

VII. CALL FOR ADDITIONAL TESTIMONY

If you have been a victim of a wrongful eviction, a frivolous or landlord-favored summary process, slander by a landlord, or bias, prejudice, discrimination, and deprivation of your constitutional and tenant rights in the Massachusetts Housing Court, we urge you to add your voice.

Please provide the name of the judge, the name of the corrupted lawyer, and the name of the luxury rental property involved. We will add them to this petition so that no bad actor can hide from public accountability.

VIII. CONCLUSION

The Massachusetts Housing Court was meant to be a public courthouse of equal justice. Today, we allege it functions as a “rich landlord courthouse” paid for by taxpayers and operated for the benefit of wealthy real estate investors.

We refuse to fund our own displacement. We refuse to accept a judiciary that treats tenants as expendable. We refuse to allow our courts to be purchased by luxury landlords and their lobbyists. We stand on the principle that housing is a human right, and a court that violates this right is a court that has lost its legitimacy.

"Every leader leaves footprint that tells a story long after they are gone, a story their children and generation would inherit. A leader who rules with fear forgets one thing: Fear is temporary, but the anger of the people is permanent."

Now is the time for the people to rise. We demand the dissolution and reformation of the Housing Court, the removal of every corrupted judge and lawyer, and the restoration of justice, transparency, and dignity for the tenants of Massachusetts.

If our elected lawmakers and oversight bodies do not act now, the homelessness crisis they have enabled will consume the Commonwealth.

Sign and circulate this petition. Our homes, our rights, and our future depend on it.

Respectfully submitted by the Undersigned Citizens of Massachusetts