Gifford v. Burke

*409*724John A. Gifford and Debra F. Gifford, who are married, together held a fifty percent, undivided interest in waterfront property in Revere (property). In 2008, the Giffords filed *725a petition for partition in Land Court against their coowner, Andrew J. Burke. A Land Court judge appointed a partition commissioner (intervener Robert J. Cotton, henceforth, the commissioner) to assist the parties and the judge in resolving the matter. See G. L. c. 241, § 12. Nevertheless, the process did not go smoothly. Indeed, the case, together with related litigation spawned in the Land Court, the Superior…