Public-housing group says it should not be listed as a plaintiff in City Council redistricting suit

Public-housing advocate Phyllis Corbitt can sue whomever she wants, but the Massachusetts Union of Public Housing Tenants today asked a federal judge to strike its name from her role as a plaintiff in the suit over how the Boston City Council re-set its district boundary lines, because she had no authority to hitch the group's wagon to a lawsuit over the issue.

The docket for the federal case, lists Corbitt as a plaintiff, "Individually and as President of the Massachusetts Union of Public Housing Tenants."

In a request to US District Court Judge Patti Saris, Union attorney Annette Duke said Corbitt "never received permission from the Board of Mass Union to represent them in this lawsuit."

Also, Corbitt stopped being the group's president in April, 2022, roughly seven months before the suit was filed, Duke wrote.

Plaintiffs, with financial funding from City Councilors Frank Baker, Michael Flaherty, Erin Murphy and Ed Flynn, originally filed their suit in Suffolk Superior Court. Citing federal voting issues, the city had the case "removed" to federal court last December.