After city issued municipal citations imposing fines against petitioner for violations of the state’s sanitary code, petitioner filed petition for relief relating to the citations.
A single justice of the county court denied relief without addressing the merits of the petition, ruling that the circumstances did not require the court’s extraordinary intervention. Petitioner appealed.
The Supreme Judicial Court held that:
- Availability of an alternative remedy through an appeal to the District Court prevented petitioner from being entitled to relief under the Supreme Judicial Court’s superintendence power, or in the nature of certiorari or mandamus;
- Supreme Judicial Court’s superintendence power over courts of inferior jurisdiction did not extend to actions of city; and
- Exceptional circumstances were not present that would warrant Supreme Judicial Court’s exercise of its superintendence power.