The judicial system can be challenging to navigate especially if you don’t understand the terminology and the differences between the types of courts, court cases and trials. In an attempt to help our readers sort through the vast amounts of legal lingo used in the judicial system, our blog today is focused on the different types of trial courts in Massachusetts and how they differ from one another.
Types of Legal Cases
Before we discuss the levels and division of courts in Massachusetts, let’s delve a little into the types of legal cases that may make their way into a courtroom.
Legal cases and the courts they end up in are broken down into two main categories – criminal and civil cases. Criminal courts try cases in which individuals are accused of a crime whereas civil courts oversee legal cases that are between two parties that result from wrongdoing such as in cases of divorces, contract disputes, personal injury claims, or eviction proceedings.
Trial Courts Explained
In the state of Massachusetts, there are several trial court departments including probate and family court, juvenile court, housing court and the two we will be focusing on today – District Court and Superior Court.
Juvenile Court
It is the mission of the Juvenile Court in Massachusetts to “protect children from abuse and neglect and promote opportunities for children to reside in safe, stable, permanent family environments whenever possible.” (Source Mass.gov)
The Juvenile Court Department oversees civil and criminal matters statewide involving children including youthful offenders, and the care and protection of minors. In Massachusetts, the Juvenile Court has 42 judges, including Chief Justice Dana M. Gershengorn, in more than 40 locations. There are 11 divisions of the Juvenile Court.
Probate & Family Court
This division of the court system includes the handling of court matters that involve families and children, like divorce, child support, and wills. This court has 14 divisions throughout the Commonwealth.
Housing Court
This court department handles all matters involving residential housing. This includes incidents such as eviction cases, small claims cases, and civil actions involving personal injury, property damage, breach of contract, and discrimination, as well as code enforcement actions and appeals of local zoning board decisions that affect residential housing.
District Court vs Superior Court
There are three key differences in District and Superior Court cases including jurisdiction, case type and sentencing power.
The District Court Department tends to hear a wide range of criminal, civil, housing, juvenile, mental health, and other types of cases. The criminal jurisdiction of this court extends to felonies punishable up to a sentence of 5 years whereas the Superior Court District Court has exclusive original jurisdiction of first-degree murder cases, and has original jurisdiction of all other crimes, civil actions over $50,000, matters where parties are seeking equitable relief, and actions including labor disputes where parties are seeking injunctive relief.
District Court hears cases in which the damages are not likely to be more than $50,000, and small claims cases up to $7,000. The district court is located in 62 courts across the Commonwealth. The Superior Court also has exclusive authority to convene medical malpractice tribunals, has appellate jurisdiction over certain administrative proceedings, and may hold naturalization sittings in any city or town. The court’s 82 justices sit in 20 courthouses in all 14 state counties.
For more information about understanding your court case and for exceptional legal defense in criminal cases talk to our team at the Law Offices of Patrick Conway.