Falmouth Residents Who Opposed Turbine Decision Leaked Motion to Intervene

Anonymous sources confirm one of the people seeking to intervene in the Falmouth wind turbine case leaked the motion to intervene to the news media days before it was received by the Falmouth town attorney on October 18, 2017.

A news leak is the unsanctioned release of confidential information to news media.

What motivated this leak of confidential litigation documents is the frustration that the Falmouth Zoning Board of Appeals found that the two town-owned wind turbines are a nuisance.On June 20, 2017, Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Cornelius Moriarty agreed with the Falmouth Zoning Board and shut down both turbines.

Documents and interviews were given to the media prior to the issuance of legal motions to all sides. In what looks like an effort to gain public opinion and a Falmouth Select Board meeting decision as the wind turbine advocates wanted the town to take their side.

A vote in favor of the legal motion by the Falmouth Select Board would place taxpayer cash into the motion to defray costs of the wind turbine advocates.

The non-biased publishing of judicial pleadings or in this case a motion by the local news media may enjoy public interest privileges but attorneys and "others" who assist in facilitating this exchange of information may not be so fortunate.

(Note # The news media has done nothing wrong that is their job.)

Using the media to gain public opinion with unserved court documents that are time sensitive is a major problem. The service of litigation was given to the media to gain public support without a fair balance.

The taxpayers of Falmouth already have endured years of litigation costs.

Attorneys that accommodate this uncontrolled appetite by providing judicial pleadings to the press and on the internet through emails etc. may find themselves and their firms named in claims for defamation by the parties they originally sued.

This is especially true if the attorney utilizes the pleadings as a litigation tool by transmitting them to the news source without solicitation or for example uploads the pleadings onto their firm’s website without publishing the opposing parties’ responsive pleadings and/or interjects their "own" biased commentary regarding the judicial pleadings when interviewed by the press.

Falmouth Board of Selectmen met Monday, October 23, 2017 in executive session to discuss the motion to intervene.

The board considered the motion presented by Green Center Inc. and the residents who presented the motion.

The Falmouth Select Board voted to take NO action at the 5 PM October 23,2017 meeting

Board of Selectmen October 23, 2017

FalmouthCommunityTV

Board of Selectmen October 23, 2017.New