Falmouth Massachusetts Vexatious Wind Turbine Litigation

The question before us is whether the "Friends of Falmouth Wind" should be allowed to intervene in a wind turbine lawsuit that ended June 20, 2017.

Massachusetts Appeals Court will hear arguments October 2, 2018

Barnstable Superior Court Judge Cornelius Moriarty agreed with the Falmouth Zoning Board the turbines are a nuisance. The judge ordered to shut down Falmouth's Wind 1 and Wind 2.

The Town of Falmouth constructed two wind turbines, Wind 1 in 2010 and Wind 2 in 2012.

Residents around the turbines requested the Building Commissioner at the time to stop operation of the wind turbines based on the Falmouth nuisance bylaw 240- 110. The litigation started in 2012.

The "Friends of Falmouth Wind" have conceded they have no other law that is currently active that might relate and as they did not include a pleading under current legal guidelines. In other words, the "Friends" have not shown any documentation of personal or business financial loss, loss of property health or anything of value. The "Friends" do not live near the wind turbines or own property bordering the wind turbines.

The group has a general interest in support of wind turbines making the town money and making the Select Board do what they want.

The motion to intervene by the "Friends" was filed about a year after the trial concluded, and almost four years after litigation began.

The Falmouth Select Board lost the appeal in court that the Falmouth Zoning Board ruled the wind turbines are a nuisance in which case the Barnstable Superior Court agreed the turbines are a nuisance. The select board voted not to appeal the decision within the allowed legal time frame. Susan Moran, the chairwoman of the Board of Selectmen, said: "It's time to put the matter behind us and move forward."

Only after the Town of Falmouth refused to spend more money on years of litigation did the Friends of Falmouth Wind decide to intervene making reference to electricity made with fossil fuels vs wind turbines which has nothing to do with the wind turbine litigation and nuisance or the ability to intervene in a concluded lawsuit.

In 2016 Board of Selectmen Chairman Doug Jones announced the Select Board had voted in executive session to authorize the town's insurer, Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association, to start mediation with all the parties in as many as eleven pending litigations to resolve outstanding legal actions.
The claims include zoning violations, emotional distress, nuisance and property devaluation negotiations continued after June 20, 2017, ruling the turbines are a nuisance.

The "Friends of Falmouth Wind" waited almost six months to file their motion to intervene well past the legal deadlines. The Town of Falmouth through the Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association has resolved multiple nuisance lawsuits.

The conclusion is the "Friends" failed to provide a responsive pleading, filed the intervention litigation far too late, have no standing and no personal financial interest in the turbines.

Note #

1. The Town of Falmouth withheld emails, memos, maps, and a letter dated August 2010 that a single Vestas V-82 type 1.65 megawatt wind turbine generates 110 decibels of noise. The documents were withheld from the public until after the turbines were built and released through multiple FOIA, Freedom of Information Act requests in 2013. The KEMA Inc map from 2005 shows decibel levels raised due to a single wind turbine as high as near 60 decibels at up to 200 residential homes.