A Bad Match

Randomly-assigned college roommates are not “household members” eligible for protection from abuse after one had assaulted another, according to an opinion of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Turning to the facts of this case, we conclude that the parties were not persons “residing together in the same household” at the time of the alleged abuse. Although the parties may have been attending the university voluntarily, they were not living together voluntarily; they were assigned to the same dormitory room by the university. In addition, they had been roommates for only a short time (about two months), and there is no evidence in the record about the physical layout of the room, such as whether it was a single room or more like a suite. Even presuming that much of it was common living space, there is no evidence that the parties prepared and ate meals together, engaged in other communal living activities, or had a “socially interdependent relationship.” Silva, 468 Mass. at 22. In fact, the plaintiff presented no evidence of any relationship he had with the defendant beyond sharing a dormitory room. As the plaintiff thus failed to establish that he had a “‘family  like’ connection” with the defendant, id., he was not eligible to seek protection under G. L. c. 209A.

Alleged abuse

On March 11, 2022, the plaintiff applied for an abuse prevention order, attaching an affidavit in which he asserted the following facts. The previous day, the plaintiff was in the parties’ shared dormitory room when the defendant approached and hit him on the side of the head. The plaintiff left the room and returned after some time; the defendant then picked him up by his shirt, pushed him against the wall, put him on the ground, and dragged him to the center of the room. The plaintiff asked what he had done and told the defendant to stop, but the defendant did not respond and began to hit the plaintiff on the sides of the chest. The defendant stopped momentarily when the plaintiff said he would leave the room. The defendant “resumed his assault,” however, when the plaintiff asked for permission to retrieve his laptop before leaving.

(Mike Frisch)