Philanthropist Says Lawyer Put his Name on Breakers Lawsuit Without Asking

The ongoing battle over a plan to build a welcome center at The Breakers mansion in Newport has taken an odd turn after the lead plantiff in a Superior Court lawsuit to block the plan said he never consented to be a part of the suit.

John Noffo Kahn, a philanthropist who just sold the mansion Fairholme for $15 million, sent an email to lawyers for the case this week saying that he never agreed to be a part of the court action and only granted permission for his name to be used as an abutter during an appeal process before the Newport Zoning Board.

In the email, which was forwarded to the Patch on Thursday, “I wish to go on record as stating that I am not now, nor never have been, to my knowledge, an appellant in any Superior Court action regarding the special-use permit granted to the Preservation Society for the welcome center at The Breakers,” Noffo-Kahn said. “Since the special-use permit was issued. . .I have had no correspondence whatsoever with the appellants and/or their counsel.”:

The lawyer who filed the suit on behalf of the Bellevue-Ochre Point Neighborhood Association, R. David Prentiss, declined comment, citing attorney-client privilege.

The neighborhood association has vigorously fought the plan since it was first proposed by the Preservation Society of Newport County, which hopes to build the welcome center, which would include tourist information, snacks and restrooms.

Noffo-Khan’s email could cause a sudden end to the case. Lawyers for the preservation society now plan on filing a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

The case hinged on the fact that Noffo-Kahn was the only direct abutter to The Breakers when he owned Fairholme. The BOPNA does not qualify as an abutter because as an organization, it does not own property abutting The Breakers. That means it had no standing in Superior Court to appeal the Zoning Board when it approved a special use permit for the plan in January.

The Preservation Society of Newport County applied for a special use permit to construct the $4.2 million visitors center to offer ticketing services and restrooms along with offering light food fare, such as sandwiches and snacks.

The facility would be located on the grounds of the fabled The Breakers mansion, the former a summer cottage for the Vanderbilts and the crown jewel in the collection of mansions maintained by the preservation society in Newport.

The Zoning Board’s vote in January night followed months of litigation. The city’s Historic District Commission rejected the plan on the basis it didn’t meet historical standards for the area. The Zoning Board overturned that decision, which was appealed by the neighborhood association to Superior Court. That appeal, along with the dismissal of a separate lawsuit, ended up kicked back to the Zoning Board, which finally rendered a decision after months of hearings and a spirited public debate.