Yesterday, Attorney Murphy appeared in Cambridge District Court on behalf of a tenant facing eviction from her apartment of 15 years.  The tenant owed over $6500.00 in back rent.  Unfortunately, the tenant injured herself and has been unable to work for over 6 months.  Attorney Murphy advocated on behalf of his client and convinced the landlord to allow Attorney Murphy’s client an additional 6 months to pay off the rent as well as make normal rent payments upon which the landlord agreed to dismiss the case.

Attorney Murphy’s position on these situations is that in most cases it does not make good business sense for a landlord to risk proceeding to an eviction trial.  Instead, if the tenant has a good history with the landlord and has some prospective financial ability to pay off rent owed, then it is in the best interest of both parties to settle the dispute in lieu of a costly, risky trial.