§ Rule 42. Consolidation: Separate Trials

Codes > Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure > VI. Trials > Rule 42.

Rule 42. Consolidation: Separate Trials

(a) Courts Other Than District Court: Consolidation. When actions involving a common question of law or fact are pending before the court, in the same county or different counties, it may order a joint hearing or trial of any or all the matters in issue in the actions; it may order all the actions consolidated; and it may make such orders concerning proceedings therein as may tend to avoid unnecessary costs or delay.

(b) Courts Other Than District Court: Separate Trials. The court, in furtherance of convenience or to avoid prejudice, or when separate trials will be conducive to expedition and economy, may order a separate trial in the county where the action is pending or in a different county of any claim, cross-claim, counterclaim, or third-party claim, or of any separate issue or of any number of claims, cross-claims, counterclaims, third-party claims, or issues, always preserving inviolate the right of trial by jury as declared by the constitution of this Commonwealth or as set forth in a statute.

(c) District Court: Joinder for Trial; Consolidation. When actions involving a common question of law or fact are pending before a single District Court, it may order a joint hearing or trial of any or all the matters in issue in the actions; it may order all the actions consolidated; and it may make such orders concerning proceedings therein as may tend to avoid unnecessary cost or delay.

A party who moves for the consolidation and trial together of cross actions between the same parties or two or more actions, including other court proceedings, arising out of or connected with the same accident, event or transaction, pending in more than one District Court, shall file the original copy of the motion in any such court. The party making such motion shall send notices thereof forthwith, together with a copy of the motion, to interested parties and to the clerk(s) of the other court(s) involved in the requested consolidation. The party making such motion shall annex thereto a certificate stating the time and place of filing such motion, the names and addresses of all interested parties, and showing that the party has given such notices and the time and manner of giving the same. The said motion and certificate shall then be forwarded forthwith by the clerk to the presiding justice of the Appellate Division District of the said court and it shall be marked for hearing and all parties so notified. The clerk shall note upon the motion and docket the day and hour of the filing of same. All notices received by a clerk of the filing of a motion for consolidation in another court shall be docketed by the clerk in the proper case.

Upon allowance of any such motion, the presiding justice or some justice designated by the presiding justice shall make an order providing for the consolidated trial of the actions involved, and copies of such order shall be forwarded to the clerks of the courts involved in the requested consolidation. The clerk of the court in which the consolidated actions will be heard shall notify all interested parties of the order to consolidate. All papers filed in the case, all bonds, and a certified copy of the docket entries shall be forwarded by the clerk(s) of the court(s) of origin to the court where such actions or proceedings are consolidated, and such actions or proceedings shall thereafter proceed in the court to which they are thus transferred as though originally entered there.

If all the parties to any such actions agree upon consolidation and trial together, the order therefor shall be signed by the presiding justice or some justice designated by the presiding justice.

Whenever in this rule any reference is made to the presiding justice, in the Municipal Court of the City of Boston it shall be deemed to refer to the Chief Justice of that court.

(d) District Court: Separate Trials. The court, in furtherance of convenience or to avoid prejudice, or when separate trials will be conducive to expedition and economy, may order a separate trial of any claim, cross-claim, counterclaim, or third-party claim, or of any separate issue or of any number of claims, cross-claims, counterclaims, third-party claims, or issues, always preserving inviolate the right of trial by jury as declared by the constitution of this Commonwealth or as set forth in a statute.