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Tenant appeals after housing court denies retaliation defense in for‑cause eviction; parties dispute statutory reach of §239
Summary
Tenant argued the housing court erred in refusing to apply the Chapter 239 §2A retaliation defense in a fault-based eviction; landlord urged remand or amendment of findings.
The Appeals Court heard argument in Tanya Coffey v. Abdullah focusing on whether the statutory retaliation defense under chapter 239, section 2A applies to ‘‘for-cause’’ (fault-based) evictions and whether the landlord met its burden to rebut a presumption of retaliatory eviction.
Counsel for the tenant, Sun Yu, argued 2A applies to ‘‘any action for summary process’’ and statutory text and recent authority support using the…
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