Ten Woodstock residents have sued Erin Moran and the township seeking to resolve a dispute over ownership of 28 acres of Yankeetown Pond. They seek $10 million in damages and injunctive relief to stop what they say is constant draining causing an ecological disaster.
Residents Stephanie Burke, Christopher Burke, Howard Harris, Sandra Harris, Nina Friedman, Eve Parisano, Margaret Doocey, Lawrence Posner, Patrick Robinson and Edward Bloom are plaintiffs in the civil lawsuit against Kathleen Erin Moran (known as Erin), Mororles LLC and the Town of Woodstock.
Mororles is the entity Moran formed to limit liability incurred when she obtained a quitclaim deed to the pond. The plaintiffs claim Moran’s quitclaim deed to the part of the pond does not include ownership.
“In 2018 Sawyer Savings Bank had nothing left to convey to defendant Moran because each lot owner already held an undivided one-29th interest in the land underlying and surrounding Yankeetown Pond,” the lawsuit argues.
Upon investigating who owned the western end of the pond in 2018, Moran discovered the bank held claim to it. The bank, wanting to unload a liability, gave it to Moran by transferring a quitclaim deed.
The plaintiffs say Moran’s asserted “interest” does not translate to ownership. They allege Moran’s confrontations, harassment and menacing of local residents have been “escalating into cursing, obscene gestures, yelling, threats, and calling the police.”
Unneighborly behavior
One such confrontation involved a resident’s young son.
The lawsuit alleges that this May Moran and Woodstock town supervisor Bill McKenna were kayaking on the pond directly in front of the home of plaintiff Stephanie Burke. Moran allegedly called out to her twelve-year-old son, “Is your mother home? Tell her I said go fuck yourself.”
According to accounts both in the lawsuit and in a sworn affidavit by Stephanie Burke, her son ran into the house to get his mother. When Burke went out on her deck, Moran proceeded to give her and her son the middle finger repeatedly while mocking her son.
This July, Moran told Woodstock police she wanted the residents off “her property.” Police considered it a civil matter. No arrests were made.
During one altercation, Moran allegedly informed the residents “Big changes are coming, you’ll see.” Shortly afterwards, a beaver deceiver was installed.
Affidavits from other plaintiffs, including Friedman, Robinson and Doocey, told similar stories.
Robinson’s said Moran had stopped children on the street to give them the middle finger and on three instances had called the police on neighbors gathered at the pond on Saturday evenings. That allegation was echoed by affidavits from other plaintiffs, including Friedman, who saw Moran instigating arguments while videotaping everything. “It was clear from her behavior that Moran was there to start trouble,” he said in the suit.
Doocey claimed Moran had neglected the pond. After a large tree fell on utility wires on pond land, Doocey charged Moran with failing to maintain the water levels of the pond, a failure that resulted in flooding on both Pond and Glenford-Wittenberg roads, on occasion making driving dangerous on both roads.
The beaver deceiver
Moran has claimed the beaver deceiver was installed to remedy the situation, and that the water will drop twelve to 18 inches as designed. But the plaintiffs say it is causing irreparable harm.
The day the water leveler, or beaver deceiver. was installed, “defendant Moran, her husband (the local town judge) and the town supervisor were present at the pond landing, serving coffee and doughnuts, as two police cruisers stood by with lights flashing,” the plaintiffs say.
Moran had installed the leveler “without consulting or notifying the lot owners or receiving any form of consent from the lot owners who own the pond itself. Moreover, no valve, cap or turnoff was installed on the leveler,” The lawsuit claims the leveler has had “a profound effect on the pond’s ecosystem, impairing the natural habitat of fish, frogs, a large variety of turtles, plant life, and other animals and organisms dependent upon the pond’s unique ecosystem.”
The plaintiffs say a large volume of water has drained out of the pond, leaving the water level about two feet lower than its prior level. They allege the defendants “intentionally, knowingly and unreasonably entered onto plaintiffs’ property for the purpose of erecting physical structures, including a beaver receiver and fences, without permission from the plaintiffs, thereby causing substantial damage to their property and the unique Yankeetown Pond ecosystem.”
Injunction sought
The residents who claim they own a share of the pond seek a final determination of pond ownership. They argue the defendants’ physical presence and placement of signs, fences and erection of the beaver deceiver “constitute an initial and continuing trespass upon plaintiffs’ lands and have further prevented plaintiffs, their families, agents and designees from using and enjoying Yankeetown Pond ….”
They seek a permanent injunction barring the defendants from changing the water level or altering the pond and requiring them to remove the fences and beaver deceiver. They seek $5-million compensatory and $5-million punitive damages against Moran and Mororles LLC.
They assert Moran’s intention to transfer the 28 acres of Yankeetown Pond to the town warrants the urgency of injunctive relief. This is also the stated reason for naming the town as a defendant.
The installation of the water leveler this summer sparked renewed acrimony in regard to Moran’s possession of the quitclaim deed to a little less than a third of the pond. Moran has expressed the wish the question of ownership would end up in court so it could be settled once and for all. Woodstock supervisor Bill McKenna has echoed similar sentiments.
The lawsuit was filed October 22 in the Ulster County Supreme Court. The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Richard M. Mahon and Katherine E. Krahulik of Catania, Mahon & Rider of Newburgh.
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