Fellows v. Martin

The defendant tenant appeals from a judgment for the plaintiff landlord in a summary process action seeking possession of the leased premises for nonpayment of rent. The dispositive issue on appeal is whether the trial court erred in refusing to prevent the forfeiture of the lease on equitable grounds when the lessor’s loss was small, the default slight, and the hardship to the tenant great. Although the tenant’s appeal also raised five other issues, only one of these (the variance between the allegations in the complaint and the evidence offered by the landlord) was fully presented at…