An Ulster County Supreme Court judge has dismissed all claims against the Town of Woodstock and town supervisor Bill McKenna in a lawsuit brought by neighbors of an illegal dump in Shady who were trying to force the town to push a full cleanup.
In granting the town’s July 19 motion to dismiss, judge David Gandin on November 12 invalidated Reynolds Lane residents Frank and Pam Eighmey’s claims against the town. He said the plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate negligence by the Town of Woodstock, town board or McKenna. He also said the Eighmeys’ claims were barred by a civil principle preventing parties from re-litigating a matter already decided by a court.
Still pending in the same case is a decision on damages and liability claims against Vincent and Regina Conigliaro, who are the property owners, and Joseph Karolys, who did the dumping.
“I do hope that the judge will offer some relief somehow to the Eighmeys,” McKenna said. “Should their water be filtered? Yeah. Should Karolys or Conigliaro pay for it? Absolutely. They’re the ones that caused this grief.” McKenna recalled his advice to the Eighmeys in 2020, “Sue the hell out of them and I’m happy to be a witness for you.”
Karolys, convicted of murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison, delivered at least 200 truckloads of contaminated fill from December 2019 to July 2020 to the property.
Prior litigation
In December 2023 the same judge had granted the Eighmeys’ Article 78 petition to invalidate the building permit for a cleanup of the contaminated fill, known as “Plan E.” At that time, he also absolved the town from liability.
In their civil action, the Eighmeys had asserted that ruling had opened the door for further litigation against the town.
Gandin said that argument was misplaced. “The Court was merely stating in dicta that rather than pursuing mandamus relief against a municipality for environmental damages caused by a property owner, the relief could be sought directly against that property owner,” he wrote. He expressed the belief the later civil action was designed to get around the December decision.
“Rather than raise their claims in the prior litigation, plaintiffs waited till the Court issued judgment denying their causes of action against the town and then moved on March 21, 2024 to amend their complaint to bring the claims they assert herein against the town,” Gandin wrote. The claims in the civil action were “premised upon the same series of transactions and seek redress for the same wrongs as the prior litigation” and the allegations are “materially identical.”
Gandin also ruled the Eighmeys had failed to show cause for negligence on the part of the town.
The Eighmeys had argued the town failed to adequately enforce the fill and grading law that was part of the town zoning code. The enforcement of zoning laws is a discretionary governmental function and cannot be a basis for liability, Gandin wrote.
What the critics say
Critics of the town’s handling of the Church Road dump have questioned a letter McKenna, councilmember Anula Courtis and former town environmental commission chair Erin Moran had sent to state attorney general Letitia James just days before the town filed to dismiss the Eigmeys’ lawsuit. The town argued it had only been seeking assistance in getting the situation resolved.
The letter said the Shady property should have been included in an $8-million judgment against Karolys for illegal dumping.
“My concern was that there was an $8-million judgment against Karolys in Saugerties,” McKenna explained. “So I want to understand what the hell did he do in Saugerties that would warrant such a fine? I mean, that’s huge. The fact that at least some, if not all of the dirt in Woodstock came from Saugerties. Do we have something to be worried about? I feel very strongly the DEC is aware of what’s in Saugerties. They’re aware that the material in Woodstock came from Saugerties.”
Critics contend that the appropriate time to work with James’ office was when the fill was first discovered in January 2020.
Supporters of the Eighmeys and residents of Reynolds Lane have also criticized the town for what they see as a failure to enforce the town’s solid-waste law, which is stricter than the state’s. McKenna contends that law was used to get the construction debris moved away from the Eighmey home to prevent a repeat of a slide that had sent rock and debris down onto the Eighmeys’ yard.
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