Massachusetts Superior Court Information, Location and Jurisdiction

Original jurisdiction of Massachusetts Superior Court lies in civil actions over $25,000 and in matters where equitable relief is required. The Superior Court makes judgment in matters that involve labor disputes where injunctive relief is required and has exclusive authority to set up medical malpractice tribunals. The Court has exclusive original jurisdiction in cases related to first degree murder. It has jurisdiction over all felony matters, but it shares jurisdiction over crimes with other trial court departments. Certain administrative proceedings also fall under the appellate jurisdiction of the Superior Court.

The Administrative Office Mailing Address:

Superior Court Administrative Office
Suffolk County Courthouse, 13th Floor
Three Pemberton Square
Boston, MA 02108
Tel: 617-788-8130
Fax: 617-788-8137

The Administrative Office Delivery Address:

Superior Court Administrative Office
Suffolk County Courthouse, 13th Floor
Three Pemberton Square
Boston, MA 02108
Tel: 617-788-8130
Fax: 617-788-8137

Superior Court Rules

These are rules that are related to civil cases:

Motions: A moving party should serve with the motion a separate memorandum stating reasons which should include supporting authorities and why this motion should be granted by the court. It might include a hearing request. The motion should be served with the affidavits and other documents of evidence on which it is based.

Oppositions to motions: An opposing party should counter the motion by serving a memorandum in opposition. The memorandum of opposition should include the statement of reasons with supporting authorities stating why the motion should not be passed. It might include a request of hearing. All the affidavits and other documents in support of the memorandum should be served with the memorandum.

Facts Verified by Affidavit: Superior court should not consider a motion without facts. The facts must be verified by the affidavits in support of the motion.

Procedures for Serving and Filing Motions

All motions and oppositions should be filed with the Clerk of the court and served on all parties in accordance with the procedures that are set forth by the court rules.

Service and Filing of Motions and Oppositions: The moving party will have to serve a copy of the motion and other relevant documents that are specified by the court rule on every other party. Every opposing party should serve on the moving party a copy and an original and every other party a copy of the opposition and the documents that are specified by the rule of court. The opposition memorandum should be served within 10 days after service of a motion in place of motion of summary judgment and 21 days after service of a motion of summary judgment or additional time as per the statute or order of the court.

Hearing on Motions

Marking: No party has the authority to mark any motion for hearing. If the court believes that a hearing is necessary or helpful for a motions disposition, the court will fix the date and time for the hearing and will timely notify the parties that particular date and time.

Request for Hearing: A statute or rule of the court will be set forth if a request for hearing appears in front of the court for the judgment of motion by the submitting party. The review committee determines that a hearing is required for a motion, sets a hearing on a specific date and time, and notifies the parties as per the court rule.

Disposition of Motions

Motions which are not set for hearing in accordance to the rules will be decided on the basis of the papers filed in the court.

If you want to know more about the court proceedings you can visit http://www.mass.gov/courts/courtsandjudges/courts/superiorcourt/http://www.peoplepublicrecords.org/rules.html.

You can contact Superior Court Department on 617-788-8130 or you can email webmaster@jud.state.ma.us.