Legal Briefs: News from Around NH

Pierce Atwood recognizes attorneys, staff at 10th Annual Pro Bono & Community Service Award Ceremony

In its 10th annual pro bono and community service award ceremony, Pierce Atwood recognized attorneys and staff who personify the firm’s culture of giving back to the community through pro bono and community service efforts.  This year’s award recipients are:

Lancaster Pro Bono Attorney of the Year Award: Presented to the attorney who contributed the highest number of pro bono hours in the past year, the 2023 Lancaster award was presented to Boston real estate and land use attorney Daniel Bailey for providing nearly 150 hours of pro bono service assisting Hale Education, a nonprofit organization providing educational and recreational opportunities on 1,100+ acres of forests, ponds, and meadows in Westwood and Dover, Mass. Dan devoted considerable time helping to draft a conservation restriction that will allow Hale to continue its mission while preserving in perpetuity its 900 acres of open land.

McKusick Community Impact Award: Named for the late Vincent Lee McKusick, former Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, and Pierce Atwood friend and lawyer for more than 25 years, this award recognizes one attorney and one staff member who have made, “a significant, positive impact through pro bono and/or community service in the communities in which they live or work.” This year’s winners are:

• Cameron Goodwin, a litigation attorney based in the Portland office, for providing nearly 90 hours of pro bono service in seven different pro bono matters through the Maine Volunteer Lawyers Project, Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ILAP), Pierce Atwood’s Racial Justice Initiative, and for providing ongoing legal support to an individual asylum client navigating state benefits.
• Heidi Grant, a Portland, Maine-based legal assistant, for her ongoing work coordinating the firm’s teams of volunteers for Junior Achievement of Maine’s “Economics for Success” program at Gorham (Maine) Middle School. Heidi also teaches evening classes to English language learners at Portland Adult Education.

Scribner Firm Impact Award: Named for longtime former partner Fred Scribner, whose legacy endures through the firm’s commitment to the community, its employees, and the law, this award is given to one attorney and one staff member who work to keep pro bono and community service top-of-mind in the firm. This year’s winners are:

• Kellie MacDonald, an immigration attorney in the Portland office, for supporting firm colleagues in pro bono immigration matters, and for providing immigration support for her own pro bono clients. Kellie recently achieved an extraordinary positive result in immigration court for a client who fled political persecution in Rwanda.
• Abigail Dyer, marketing coordinator, provides tireless, exemplary, behind-the-scenes work for the many events hosted by the firm, its clients, and community partners. She is also the engine behind Pierce Atwood’s annual Pro Bono & Community Service Awards event, planning and implementing this multi-office program.

Somersworth landlord fined $25,000 for failure to fix windows, remove lead paint

A judge in March ordered additional fines against Anji Reddy, the New Jersey landlord who for years has been at odds with the city code enforcement office and the recipient of complaints from tenants.

Judge Brad Lown ordered Reddy to pay a $25,000 fine plus attorney costs of $1,636.96 for his failure to comply with city violations, mainly replacing windows and remediating lead paint at 11 Ash St. Unit A.

In his ruling, Lown wrote Reddy had “failed to comply with the previous agreement” made to correct code violations at 11 Ash St. He noted Reddy had agreed to replace windows and to do lead paint abatement.

The city initially filed the new complaint against Reddy for not completing the work he had agreed to in 2023, on Jan. 3 of this year.

On Jan. 17, Reddy filed a motion to dismiss the case, claiming he had done the required repairs. As part of that complaint, Reddy claimed he no longer owned the property, but the city learned that he had actually conveyed the property to a separate corporation Reddy controls.

]After hearing testimony from the city and Reddy, Lown ruled the work had not been done to state specifications and issued the fine.

“As part of Judge Lown’s order, Mr. Reddy must pay a penalty of 25,000 in addition to prosecution fees of 1636.96,” city code enforcement officer Shane Conlin said in a written statement. “I hope that this ruling will serve as a deterrent to landlords in the community with neglected properties. The city will continue its pursuit in bringing this property and other properties in a similar condition into compliance though whatever means available.”

Reddy owns several properties in the city and first came to public attention when a resident of 86 High St. hung a banner outside her window, begging Reddy to fix heat and water issues in that building, during the winter of 2022.

“This case has been ongoing since Dec. 30, 2022, due to the longstanding code violations the landlord has refused to remedy,” Conlin said in a written statement. “Mr. Reddy violated the terms of his Aug. 25, 2023 plea agreement and as a result, the City of Somersworth, Code Compliance Office brought this case to trial on March 18.”

Attempts to reach Reddy for a comment were not immediately successful. — Karen Dandurant, Foster’s Daily Democrat

Former Northumberland Town Clerk charged for assisting Deputy Clerk

Former Northumberland Town Clerk Melinda Kennett was arrested last week on 16 Class A misdemeanor charges, alleging she assisted then Deputy Town Clerk Courtney McLain in accessing N.H. Division of Motor Vehicle records to process vehicle-related transactions without proper authorization.

McLain, 32, was arrested on March 8 on a total of 28 charges including 14 counts of computer related offenses and 14 counts of tampering with public records. Specifically, she was charged with using the New Hampshire Municipal Agent Automation Project computer network on May 5, 2023, to process vehicle transactions for 14 different customers without having proper certification to do so.

Two weeks later Kennett, 59, of Groveton was charged with eight counts of computer related offenses and eight counts of tampering with public records, alleging she assisted McLain according to a release issued from State Police Troop G.

Both women were released on personal recognizance bail and are scheduled to appear June 3, in Lancaster District Division Court in Lancaster.

The charges levied against the pair are Class A misdemeanors which carry a maximum possible penalty of up to one year in jail and a $2,000 fine for each offense.

Kennett stepped down earlier this year after 18 years as town clerk and McLain ran for the open position in the 2024 town election. The news of McLain’s arrest was released on election day and she was defeated in her bid to replace Kennett.

The two women had been suspended from using the state computer network system after they were found guilty in March 2023 of charges of disclosure/misuse of DMV records according to court documents.

Back in August 2022, Kennett is reported to have given the name of the owner of a car parked in a loading zone at the Groveton Stop and Save Supermarket to the general manager who was seeking to get it moved to allow for a delivery. She was charged with knowingly disclosing DMV registration information to a person not authorized to have it.

McLain was charged with two counts of disclosure/misuse of DMV records unrelated to the charge involving Kennett. She was found guilty on one count and a second count was nolle prossed.

Both women were fined.

In addition to a fine, the court ruled the N.H. Bureau of Hearings could determine whether to suspend their access to the DMV computer system and according to published reports the women each were given a six month suspension. — Barbara Tetreault, The Berlin Sun

Keene shooting range’s tax-related appeal closed without court judgment

A Keene shooting range’s appeal over the city’s rejection of its request for a charitable tax exemption has been closed without judgment at both parties’ agreement, according to documents filed in Cheshire County Superior Court.

Neither Michael Lambert, the attorney for the shooting range, nor Matthew Johnson, representing the city of Keene, immediately responded to requests for comment Tuesday morning.

In its Aug. 30 appeal, the nonprofit Cheshire County Shooting Sports Education Foundation at 10 Ferry Brook Road cited a state statute that says “buildings, lands and personal property of charitable organizations” used by organizations for such purposes are tax exempt.

Lambert, the foundation’s attorney, wrote a letter to city officials last April stating that the organization’s articles of agreement had been updated to state explicitly its charitable purposes. In that same letter, attached to the appeal, he said the organization provides public facilities and land for training and hunting, and organizations including the Keene Police and N.H. Fish and Game departments utilize its resources.

Lambert wrote that private instructors had been using the facility for their classes but that this had ceased.

“While CCSSEF is still in the process of finalizing its policies in this regard, it is expected that going forward, CCSSEF will treat outside instructors as 1099 contractors or employees, similar to how outside training is handled by other tax-exempt charitable organizations,” Lambert wrote.

In a June 15 response letter attached to the appeal, City Assessor Daniel Langille wrote the organization had not adequately shown that the property qualified for exemption status.

“CCSSEF has not demonstrated that firearms training and safety education constitutes a charitable purpose, as was also noted in the Board of Tax and Land [Appeals’] decision upholding the City’s denial of CCSSEF’s 2021 tax-exempt request,” Langille wrote. The tax and land appeals board is a state government organization that “provides an alternative forum to the Superior Court in tax cases,” according to its website.

“The Assessing Department also identified that CCSSEF’s practices of compensating private contractors, particularly for 2023, are not clearly in line with a charitable purpose,” he added, referencing Lambert’s note about this.

According to the organization’s website, it began as the Ferry Brook Range in 1923, and the board of directors created the foundation in 2010. A document detailing the foundation’s expenses attached to the appeal said it paid $20,226.59 in Keene property taxes for 2022.

According to the city’s online property tax payment database, the organization paid all the property taxes for 2023 in July and December of that year.

An Oct. 23 filing by Keene’s attorney, Matthew Johnson, argued that the organization failed to meet one or more factors that, per the NH Municipal Association, the NH Supreme Court has ruled an institution must meet to qualify for charitable tax exemption.

The website states that the four include being established and administered for a charitable purpose, an obligation to serve the public other than only organization members, occupying and owning land that is used directly for the charitable purpose and not using income for any reason other than the established purpose.

In a Feb. 7 document telling the court how to note the docket filing, both parties agreed to mark the matter as judged for neither party, with no costs or fees to be paid for either group. — Christopher Cartwright, Keene Sentinel