by Ed Naile
Let’s say I have a “friend” who is a vinyl siding contractor. My friend gets a great job siding a house on the beach owned by an elderly lady whom he befriends.
My buddy finishes the vinyl siding job which got pretty complicated during the process and he had to charge her around $400,000.00. The elderly lady feels the urge to give the home to my friend because they have such a special relationship. What’s the harm?
You won’t believe this but the elderly woman has a couple of grandchildren who found this swap a little to their disliking so they brought legal action. No one knows how that turned out, no one is talking. Because this case involved vinyl siding no police were called either.
The really bad part is suddenly after 7 years the other vinyl siding contractors in NH are looking into whether my friend did something wrong. Can you imagine! And they have some really bad suggestions for penalties if they find he used his personal charms and vinyl siding artistry to enchant and then swindle the elderly lady out of her home.
Even though my pal has been doing vinyl for 20 years the other NH vinyl siding experts, under the Vinyl Siding Code of Ethics, have the sole authority to write a letter of reprimand against him or, God forbid, prevent him from siding for two whole years or even forever! All over a lousy $400,000.00 beach house. Don’t they understand it took years to learn to vinyl and my friend is from a good family.
Many people have a great and sincere respect for the Vinyl Siding Association Professional Conduct Committee and that is why police and prosecutors were never brought into this case, as a supposed swindle of this magnitude should only be handled by professionals – people who are used to dealing with sensitive situations.
I am loath to release the name of my friend as his wife is a very prominent and highly respected used car saleswoman. All I can do at this time is suggest the following:
Look up the pending case of Attorney John J. Coffey, husband of Rockingham Superior Court Judge Patricia Coffey. “Call me J.J”. is currently before the Professional Conduct Committee for almost the exact the same thing as my vinyl siding friend.
What a coincidence.
The only difference is instead of the highly respected Vinyl Siding Professional Conduct Committee ruling on my friend’s case, a bunch of lawyers who all belong to the same association are doling out justice to J.J.
There is one wild card in the Professional Conduct Committee fix mix that is about to happen. Somehow retired State Supreme Court Justice Sherman Horton, who is known for calling a spade a spade, wound up part of the group deciding J.J.’s fate. Judge Horton was and is as trustworthy as they come. So any “punishment” will probably be some written statement of fact from him buried in a Saturday paper.
NH citizens will have to take what they can get when it comes to our legal system.