All cases
26H82CV00143Up to date

Lenox Farms Limited Partnership v. Kassem, Mohamed et al

Housing Court·Metro South Housing Court·Last checked Jul 25, 2026, 8:12 PM·View on masscourts.org ↗

01Where things stand right now

This is the leftover money/claims half of an eviction case. In May 2026 the court moved what was left of the Braintree eviction (docket 24H82SP03575) onto a regular civil docket, carrying over the original eviction complaint and tenant Dany Abouelkhier’s counterclaims and cross-claims. On June 22, 2026, Abouelkhier — now representing himself — filed a motion asking the judge to spell out in writing exactly what claims got transferred and to freeze any adverse rulings until that’s clarified. Nothing shows a ruling on that motion yet.

02The case in a nutshell

Lenox Farms, the landlord of 550 Liberty Street in Braintree, filed an eviction in December 2024 against Mohamed Kassem and Dany Abouelkhier. The stated reason wasn’t unpaid rent — it was that they allegedly let an unauthorized person, Sandra Frommer, live in the apartment without the landlord’s written permission.

Abouelkhier fought back hard. He answered the complaint and filed counterclaims against the landlord (bad conditions — mold, leaks, bad heat, broken stove; retaliation for calling the Braintree Health Department; Chapter 93A unfair practices) plus a long list of cross-claims against his own co-defendant Kassem (fraud, abandoning the lease, conspiracy with the landlord).

In May 2026 the case was transferred to a civil docket. That normally happens when the possession fight is over or set aside and what’s left is money claims and counterclaims that need regular civil handling.

Right now the fight is not about the merits at all — it’s about what this new docket actually contains.

03Who's involved
04What's happening now

On May 5, 2026, the court opened this civil docket as a transfer from the eviction case and loaded in the old summary process summons and complaint plus Abouelkhier’s answer/counterclaims/cross-claims.

That’s where the current problem comes from. Reading his June 22 motion, Abouelkhier’s complaint is that the docket doesn’t say what the case now IS: there’s no new civil complaint, no statement of transferred claims, no rent ledger or dollar amount, no answer deadline, no discovery schedule, and no clear word on whether possession is still on the table or whether the landlord is still pursuing use-and-occupancy money.

So he filed a carefully-labeled ‘limited’ motion asking the judge to answer 15 specific questions in writing — what transferred, what pleading controls, whether he has to file anything and by when, whether he can amend his counterclaims — and to order that nothing bad (default, dismissal of his counterclaims for failure to prosecute, discovery sanctions, summary judgment, a money judgment) happens until those answers exist.

He also went out of his way to say the filing is not an answer, not a general appearance, and not a waiver of anything.

05What's next

The next real step is a ruling on the June 22 motion. A judge can grant it in part (a scheduling/clarification order defining the operative pleadings and setting deadlines is a normal, useful thing), deny it as unnecessary, or set a status/case-management conference to sort it out in person.

If the case gets defined, expect the usual civil sequence: the landlord identifying its money claim and amount, Abouelkhier answering or amending, then discovery on the habitability, retaliation, and 93A claims and on the cross-claims against Kassem.

No hearing date appears anywhere in this docket, so don’t assume one is scheduled.

06Reading between the lines

The landlord’s original play was straightforward and legitimate: a for-cause eviction over an unauthorized occupant, with a boilerplate reservation of rent/use-and-occupancy that it never filled in with a dollar figure on the summons.

Abouelkhier’s counterclaims are the classic tenant counterpunch — habitability, retaliation for calling the health department, 93A treble damages. Those are real Massachusetts causes of action, and if the mold/heat/stove complaints and the Health Department report are documented, they have teeth. His cross-claims against Kassem are more unusual: he’s essentially saying his co-tenant used him, stopped paying, lied to the court, and teamed up with the landlord. The ‘civil conspiracy’ count is the kind of allegation that’s easy to write and very hard to prove.

The June 22 motion is where it gets interesting. On the merits, he has a fair point — a bare ‘civil case transfer’ docket with no new complaint and no ledger genuinely is confusing for a self-represented person, and asking the court to identify the operative pleading is reasonable.

But the framing is doing a lot of work. Seven pages of ‘this is not an answer, this is not an appearance, I waive nothing,’ fifteen numbered questions, and a request that the court pre-block default, discovery sanctions, summary judgment, and any money judgment ‘until further order’ — that reads like a request for an indefinite freeze dressed up as a housekeeping question. It appears designed to buy time and to build a paper record that he can point to later if anyone tries to default him or dismiss his counterclaims.

My honest read: the legitimate core (tell me what the case is and set a schedule) is likely to get some traction; the sweeping ‘nothing adverse may happen to me’ relief is the kind of thing judges usually trim down to a plain scheduling order. Notably, no opposition from either the landlord or Kassem shows on this docket yet.

A candid read, not legal advice.
07The record, translated

Newest first — the plain-English reading leads; the court's wording follows.