Author Archives: overeasy

Jury instructions

No word yet on the jury deliberations.  Shortly after starting yesterday, they asked about the pump flow chart record from the week preceding the slope failure in April 2009.  The judge said that it was evidence. In the meantime, the … Continue reading

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Findings of fact

Both sides have filed their Findings of Fact and Rulings of Law with the the court.  First Wolfeboro and then  Wright Pierce.  As I get this exercise, the judge will consider the jury’s finding on the Consumer Protection claim as … Continue reading

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Jury is out

Today saw closing arguments, followed by the judge instructing the jury on procedures and matters of law.  The jury went out just after noon.  As of about 3:30 there was no verdict.  I asked to be notified, but may not … Continue reading

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My two cents

Now that both sides have rested their case,  I’ll tell you what I think.  First understand that this isn’t a prediction of what the jury will decide.  They have less information and must decide based on the law and how … Continue reading

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Wolfeboro motion for judgement

Wolfeboro has posted their motion for judgement as a matter of law.  As explained previously, Wolfeboro is asking the court to rule that WP has not met the standard for comparative fault defense and mitigation defense. Nobody disputed that the … Continue reading

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Defense rests

Today WP put on their last expert witness, John Kastrinos, a hydrogeologist from Haley and Aldrich.  Mr. Kastrinos was accepted as an expert without objection. The defense took him through his history of projects that included a couple of RIB … Continue reading

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What’s the score?

Interest in this blog has exploded since the trial began, and though I have a definite opinions about how it’s going, readers should be cautious that I don’t really have anywhere near the insight that the “teams” have. First, there’s … Continue reading

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Wrapping it up

After Wolfeboro’s used up all of the allotted trial time of 2½ weeks, you might think that the defense would feel the need for some parity.  Not so.  So far they have called Mr. Brown and two of their three … Continue reading

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cinco de mayo

A little late posting.  We were out celebrating our favorite faux Mexican holiday. Wolfeboro spent the morning cross examining Bill Brown, President and CEO of Wright Pierce.  Ms. Cull started out attempting to challenge that Wright Pierce is using Mr. … Continue reading

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The goat

During the Friday morning recess, our attorney Ms. Cull confronted me and said that “they” (meaning the Wright Pierce team I presume) have been reading this blog, and that their attorney had represented to the judge that I thought Wolfeboro’s … Continue reading

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4-20ma

Wonk alert.  After three weeks of mind numbing legal observation, I thought I’d throw in something from the trial with a different twist. This is a story about how a roomful of lawyers and engineers can be clueless about a … Continue reading

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Motion for Judgement

As expected, Wright-Pierce has filed a motion for judgement as a matter of law.  This motion asks the court to rule in their favor because the evidence presented by Wolfeboro is insufficient, or in some cases because the alleged violation … Continue reading

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End of Week Three

Today continued the direct testimony of William Brown, president and CEO of Wright Pierce.  He took the jury through the whole 8 year history of the project – except for he part where they presented a remediation plan to NHDES … Continue reading

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Sugar coating

I read with interest today the Grunter’s meager coverage of the Wolfeboro v Wright Pierce lawsuit.  Now I know the Grunter hasn’t been to Concord to cover this event, even though it’s probably the biggest lawsuit in Town history.  I … Continue reading

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Wolfeboro rests

After 2½ weeks, Wolfeboro has finally rested their case.  Their last witness was the expert testimony of Robert Bowden, the hydrogeologist from Fuss & O’Neill.  Wolfeboro spent half of the morning session on direct examination where he continued to hammer … Continue reading

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Wolfeboro finally presents their case

After two weeks of testimony Wolfeboro is finally rolling out their real case.  Yesterday they brought out Prof. Jean Benoit from UNH.  In his direct examination, he basically said that Wright Pierce did a bad job and that the entire … Continue reading

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Moving along

Pretty good day today in terms of tempo.  Three witnesses through and a fourth on the stand for half an hour. The day started out with Paul Heirtzler from NHDES.  I missed the start but caught the meat of it.  … Continue reading

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NHDES

As promised, here’s a quick run down of Mr. Pelletier’s testimony. Mr. Pelletier is a relatively high level official in NHDES.  He said he is in charge of “anything to do with water”.  His signature is on Wolfeboro’s 2007 groundwater … Continue reading

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Another week ends

The jury went home at 1:00pm.  The judge and lawyers were sticking around to argue a motion to quash a subpoena for Harry Stewart of NHDES to testify.  NHDES is opposing on the grounds that Mr. Steward has nothing to … Continue reading

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Another long day

Cross examination of Mr. Atherton went pretty quickly as it was a backward testimony.  That is, Wolfeboro called him to the stand and his own attorney cross examined.  Somehow I’ve got the feeling that unless there is a big surprise … Continue reading

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Fishin’ for fraud

Cross examination of Blake Martin went fairly quickly today.  Next up was Jesse Schwalbaum, WP’s hydrogeologic modeler.  Our attorney Mr. Pasakarnis did a competent job of working through the mechanics of modeling and establishing the chronology and meaning of the … Continue reading

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The Central Committee

Let’s continue with the theme of yesterday’s post about how it is that we can end up in a multi-million dollar lawsuit with million-dollar legal fees and no warning whatsoever. Take a look at the minutes of the January 18, … Continue reading

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Ford done, moving on

Dave Ford finished his testimony as the court broke for lunch.  No matter how it goes, Dave can be congratulated for keeping his cool and holding out through two and a half days of cross-examination.  Where it all goes will … Continue reading

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Short day, Ford still up

Not that short.  The court scheduled 9-2 rather than 9:30-5, but they catered the jury lunch at 40 minutes instead of an hour and a quarter and ran over to 2:30.  So all that without an afternoon break works out … Continue reading

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Non-public meetings and Winnipesaukee Drive

Some of you may recall the activity in the Fall when the residents of Winnipesaukee Drive petitioned the Board of Selectmen to lay out their road with the intent of getting it repaired and accepted as a town road.  At … Continue reading

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First week over

Dave Ford is still on the stand.  The defense says that they are half to three quarters through their cross-examination.  With the expected redirect by Wolfeboro to follow, and a short day (9-2),  it will be close as to whether … Continue reading

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Day three

Spent most of the day watching the trial.  Dave Ford was on the stand the whole day, still testifying for the home team.  He was nearly finished when they recessed for the day, so presumably the cross-examination will dominate tomorrow. … Continue reading

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Trial is ongoing

Went down to Concord today and sat in on an hour and a half of Mr. Ford’s testimony for the Plaintiff.  The jury is nine people, 7 men and two women.  All but one appeared to be pretty bored with … Continue reading

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Trial started

There are a lot of people following the trial through the blog.  Unfortunately, there is little report today.  I called the courthouse this morning and was told that the trial had commenced and they were doing jury selection. A note … Continue reading

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WP continues to prepare for trial

Nothing has been placed on the docket concerning the ordered mediation session today.  Wright Pierce has filed a proposed special verdict form that walks the jury through the various elements of the counts in the complaint in order to arrive … Continue reading

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Mediation Monday

A Notice of Mediation was placed on the docket today, ordering the parties to appear at a mediation session on Monday at 11:00am in Concord.  The notice is dated today. The lead attorneys and “persons having full authority to negotiate … Continue reading

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Ruminations and conjecture

Yesterday’s collapse of what was ostensibly an attempted settlement conference creates many questions for me.  When this is over, the blog will pursue unsealing of the minutes of these deliberations to find out what happened. It was apparent, despite WP … Continue reading

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Never mind

The BOS held a non-public meeting today at 4:00pm.  It lasted about 45 minutes and though the agenda indicated that Wright-Pierce and their attorneys would be present, they were not. The BOS is playing it close to the vest.  They … Continue reading

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The beat goes on

Before anyone gets their hopes up that a big settlement in the RIB case is probable, it’s important to know that WP has filed a new objection in the case.  You will recall that the foundation of the case was … Continue reading

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11th hour pow wow

The Board of Selectmen have noticed a special meeting tomorrow at 4:00pm to start with a non-public session and then, according to the agenda, it looks like a public conference with Wright Pierce and their attorneys. With the trial scheduled … Continue reading

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Trial date is Tuesday April 15, 9:30am

That’s when Jury selection will begin.  Each side gets three wild cards.  Total ten jurors to be selected.  Six must remain by the end of trial.  The decisions must be unanimous. The trial starts immediately after jury selection.  There are … Continue reading

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Pre-trial conference yesterday

The docket shows the final pre-trial conference happened yesterday.  Three lawyers from each side were present.  It lasted almost two hours, only 13 minutes of which were held in the open courtroom.  The rest was in the judges chambers.  Apparently … Continue reading

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Wolfeboro scores again

The court substantially  upheld  Wolfeboro’s motion to limit testimony from several of WP’s experts. Roger Moore is precluded from testifying that the RIB site can be repaired.  The court cites his statements in deposition where he fails to say specifically … Continue reading

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Pretty good day for Wolfeboro

The court ruled on several key motions from both sides. The court order denying the motion to preclude untimely documents, fact and expert testimony filed by WP.  This motion dealt with several issues: Wolfeboro had provided thousands of documents to … Continue reading

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Waiting for follow up

Most of the remaining motions were filed with a follow up date for objections of Friday the 4th.  A couple had Monday the 7th.  So I guess it will be a quiet week while the parties work to craft their … Continue reading

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