Gary Rogers, who faced eviction after refusing to pay a 90% rent increase imposed by his landlord in 2024, can stay in his apartment and continue to pay his previous rent, a jury decided Thursday.
Rogers lives in a third floor one-bedroom apartment on 22 Sargent Ave. in Somerville as a tenant at-will. He has been paying $1,150 in monthly rent since Dec. 2023.
The 14-person jury’s verdict followed three days of witness testimony. Jurors found that the landlord, Ryan Pinto, did in fact terminate Rogers’ tenancy through his issuance of notices to quit. But the jury also found that Pinto and his property manager created a new tenancy by accepting Rogers’ $1,150 rent checks and not reserving their right to accept payments as “use and occupancy,” not “rent.” So, while Rogers’ May 2017 lease is now expired, the establishment of a new tenancy invalidates the original eviction case – Pinto would need to file a new eviction case based on Rogers’ new month-to-month tenancy.
The jury also found that Pinto failed to properly handle the deposit Rogers paid upon moving into the unit, equal to one month of rent. Rogers was awarded $1,150 in damages, plus $452.09 in interest. However, the jury found Pinto not liable for claims of retaliation, breach of habitability or depriving his tenant of the right to enjoy his apartment.
“My reaction at first was that I won less than I thought I was going to,” Rogers said in an interview outside the Edward W. Brooke courthouse. “My attorneys and the people from [Community Action Agency of Somerville] have informed me of what I have won… so, hh I’m starting to feel like, it’s something that’s very rare that I decided to do, for not just me, but for CAAS and for future tenants that may want to go for a jury trial… it was all worth it.”
Judge Joseph Kelleher reserved the defense’s counterclaim for violations of the Consumer Protections Act, which prohibits unfair or deceptive marketplace conduct. The act applies to Pinto because he is an investment landlord, according to Dexter Rowell, an attorney for Rogers. The defense will make a filing within the next month on claims seeking damages for poor and unsafe housing conditions and other issues. Kelleher will decide on those claims.
It is rare for a case such as this to go to trial. Rogers had pushed for a jury trial and benefitted from pro bono legal representation in court. Rowell said “I would hope that this [result] would encourage people to seek legal assistance and to push back when a developer or investor comes in and tries to disrupt a neighborhood or a community like the one that Gary is in. Broadly, I think, this is a win, in that sense.”
The verdict was a clear defeat for Pinto.
“This is one of the classic examples of when doing the right thing goes the wrong way,” Jahangir “Jay” Zaheer, one of Pinto’s attorneys, told Cambridge Day outside the courtroom after the verdict. “My client tried to do the right thing, tried to make a no-cause eviction against this gentleman, not to ruin him or harm him. Tried to do a good deed, and, as it turns out, no good deed goes unpunished.”
Pinto said it was a relief to be done with the trial.
“I’m just tired, I’m relieved that it’s over,” Pinto said. “It’s Easter, I just want to go home and be with my family. I’ve got an Easter egg hunt to prepare for a twelve, nine and a five year-old.”
Pinto and his attorneys have ongoing civil litigation with two other tenants from the same building, Michael Prentky and Celine Berger. Prentky and Berger moved out on their own volition and Prentky served as a defense witness for Rogers. Pinto and Zaheer both declined to discuss whether Thursday’s jury decision changed their perspective about that lawsuit. They also said they haven’t yet thought about an appeal or further litigation. Pinto suggested he would cease owning rental properties.
“The stress of managing this whole business and dealing with the issues in this particular market is really tough, so I just want to be done being a landlord,” Pinto said. “It’s not worth it.”
Samantha Wolfe, a CAAS organizer who attended the proceedings, said that, despite the rarity of Rogers’ case, the verdict creates exciting possibilities.
“Every day, we see tenants facing exorbitant rent increases like Gary did from corporate landlords, in this case, an out-of-state investor landlord,” Wolfe said. “This is exactly why we’re fighting for rent control statewide because it’s happening not only all across Somerville, but all across Massachusetts and people can’t even afford to live here anymore. We need reasonable rent increases that people can plan for.”
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