Attorney Herrick Receives Favorable Decision from NH Supreme Court For Local Government Center

CONCORD, NH — Attorney Jeanne P. Herrick, of Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell, P.C., in Concord, New Hampshire, received a favorable decision from the New Hampshire Supreme Court which held that the Local Government Center (LGC) owed no duty to an individual abutter with respect to advice provided by former employees to a member town’s zoning board and was not obligated to intervene on behalf of the abutter in his appeal of a decision issued by a member town’s zoning board.

The Local Government Center is a nonprofit organization which provides programs and services that strengthen the quality of its member governments and the ability of their officials and employees to serve the public. The LGC staff includes attorneys who are available to answer inquiries and provide general legal assistance to elected and appointed officials from its member towns, cities and village districts. Occasionally, LGC attorneys submit amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) briefs to the New Hampshire Supreme Court on behalf of its member municipalities.

The claims made in McKenzie v. Town of Eaton, which was decided on June 25, 2009, were related to zoning proceedings and subsequent appeals that went all the way up to the New Hampshire Supreme Court. After the plaintiff, an abutter, ultimately prevailed in the Supreme Court, he brought suit against the town, its attorneys and the LGC. In the subsequent suit, he claimed that the town and its attorneys wrongfully defended the zoning board decision and because the attorneys involved previously worked for the LGC, he sought to hold the LGC responsible for their actions. He further claimed that during the pendency of the Supreme Court appeal, the LGC wrongfully declined to intercede in the appeal on his behalf by filing an amicus curiae brief.

After the superior court dismissed all of the claims against the defendants, the plaintiff appealed. On appeal, the Supreme Court held that the attorneys owed no duty to the plaintiff, a non-client, and therefore his claim of negligence against them failed. Because his claim against the attorneys failed, the Court declared that the LGC could not be held liable for their conduct. With respect to the plaintiff’s claim that the LGC owed him a duty to intercede on his behalf in the zoning decision appeal, the Supreme Court held that the LGC owed no duty to provide legal advice to or on behalf of a non-member citizen of a member town. Had the Supreme Court held otherwise, the LGC attorneys would be placed in the untenable position of advocating against a member town — a position that would undoubtedly result in a conflict.

Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell is a multidisciplinary law firm with offices in Concord, NH. Learn more at gcglaw.com.

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