Landlord illegally seized my belongings

Hello, I was a tenant at will in an apartment complex. When I moved in I paid my first and last months rent. I provided the landlord with telephone numbers I could be reached at including a cell phone number. I rented the apartment next door to my sister, who had been renting from them for a little over a year. I was current on my rent. When I was away from my apartment for approx. 2 weeks the landlord, without contacting me, left notes on my sisters door saying that she wanted to show the apartment to other potential tenants. At about week 3 of my being away from my apartment my sister was in her apartment when she heard movement in my apartment, then used her key to enter and found that all of my belongings had been removed by the landlord, still without contacting me. After many attempts that I made to contact the landlord by telephone I then had a letter delivered to the landlord. Three days later I received a phone call from the landlords daughter in law stating that I would not be able to get my things back until I had a meeting with them and that she would contact me the next week with a date and time. I never heard from them and have had no luck with any of my attempts at reaching them by telephone. I am now looking to bring this issue to court, my problem is that in the state of Massachusetts small claims court is for up to $2000, far less than the value of my belongings. I don't know what kind of proceedings I should be filing under. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

You could sue for some segment of the items in small claims and if need be file another action later. Chances are the LL will want to resolve this without a number of court hearings.