[MassHistPres] Legal Issue Involving Right to Counsel

[Gretchen Schuler]

Three weeks ago an Historic District Commission case that was in court was brought to your attention through this listserv.  It involved a Motion by the applicant/plaintiff to strike from the record the HDC's answer to an appeal -- which would in effect cause the HDC to default.  

When the HDC realised that the town would not defend its decision to issue a Certificate with conditions, the HDC had found its own counsel to file the response to the appeal.  The applicant/plaintiff maintained  that only the Town Administrator (TA) could appoint counsel and an affidavit from the TA stated that he had no intentions of appointing counsel for this case.  

The Court ruled in the HDC's favor by saying that the Motion was denied in all respects.  This means that the HDC answer to the appeal remains as part of the record and and that there is nothing in the local town bylaws to preclude the HDC from being defended by an attorney representing the HDC pro bono or through individual members paying attorney fees.  

This is good news for the Wayland Historic District Commission.

Gretchen Schuler
Chair, Wayland HDC

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/private/masshistpres/attachments/20091129/981a7757/attachment.htm>