Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Massachusetts

My brother and I were found liable for some past rent of a place we moved out of. However my brother is unemployed with major medical bills and I am a waiter. So we were told the last time we went to court to make payments of 90 dollars a month, but after the bills and rent we just couldn't do it. We were scheduled to go back to court this last January, however we never got our notice in the mail so we missed the date. Last week while I was at work (at night) a constable showed up at my apartment with two uniformed officers and showed my brother a warrant for his arrest and my arrest. My brother asked why and the constable told him for contempt of court, we failed to show up at our hearing. The constable then asked if our address was 78 fuller st, my brother replied no, we live at 80 fuller st. The constable then told the police officers that they could leave as he could not arrest me or my brother as we never got notification of our hearing date. Since then my brother has been in contact with this constable and the constable told him to get up as much money as we could to pay this old land lord off, he said get half of what you owe and he (the constable) would see if our old land lord would settle for that. However he (the constable) told my brother for him and I to stay under the radar with police as we still have outstanding warrants for being in contempt of court. My question, How could we still have outstanding warrants if this constable said he wasn't going to arrest me or my brother because we were never notified of our hearing date?

Jeffrey


Asked on 2/25/10, 11:46 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Joseph Murray Joseph M. Murray, Esq.

The civil arrest warrant, called a capias, is still outstanding and in the system. Even though, the constable gave you the benefit of the doubt that you may not have received the notice to appear in court in January the Court that issued the capias must be asked to withdraw the capias and the constable does not have the authority to do so, nor to negotiate a settlement on your behalf with the creditor/landlord. You should retain an attorney to do those things. Good Luck!

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Answered on 3/02/10, 1:43 pm


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