Claremont Lawyers to Feed at Public Trough
Since the state gets its money from taxpayers, this means the people of New Hampshire will have to pay the costs, described as “bound to be staggering” in a Concord Monitor story on Friday.
One can only imagine how the Coalition Communities suffering from the Claremont-induced statewide property tax greeted the news. While they will have to shoulder the tax burden of being “donor” towns and pay their own costs of court litigation (estimated at $300,000), they will also be paying a share of their adversarys court costs as well.
The decision has renewed the financial strength and staying power of Andru Volinsky and the battery of lawyers who have carried the radical Claremont case through the courts for a decade. Volinsky said, “It really allows us to go forward and finish if the state does not come up with a remedy.” “If we have to litigate a remedy, chances are well get paid for that too.”
The decision will likely set a precedent that more costly, feel-good litigation in the future gets paid for at taxpayers expense. The court wrote: “Because the benefits of this litigation flow to all members of the public, the plaintiffs should not have to bear the entire cost of this litigation.”
What kind of a legal theory is that? Any case which results in higher taxes and redistributes those taxes is worthy of public financing?
The Monitor story said that Scott Johnson, a colleague of Volinskys “hopes the decision will encourage other attorneys to take on complex public fights that might not pay well.”
Volinsky and the court seem bent on destroying the very marrow of New Hampshire. With this latest decision, the court has guaranteed that the butchery of both local control and the New Hampshire Advantage will be financed at taxpayer expense.
How much longer will the elected officials and citizens of New Hampshire stand by and watch their unique advantage dismantled by a handful of willful men in black robes who are elected by no one?