Anair sues Hardwick for Slander.
HARDWICK – A claim for slander against Hardwick Selectmen and Town Manager Ernie Laird has added $1.25 million to Al Anair’s lawsuit against the town. Several weeks ago Anair filed a lawsuit
claiming that the Hardwick Selectmen had illegally taken possession of property put up in lieu of a performance bond on the flood prevention project which he and Larry Willey did for the town last year.
The 12 acres and a house on Bunker Hill are owned by Laurence and Deborah Willey, and the deed was taken over by the town in June when it appeared that the town might have to pay money in connection with the river project.
A hearing has been set for Oct. 20 in Superior Court in St. Johnsbury on Anai’s request for a preliminary injunction to get the town to return the deed to the Willeys. He is also suing the town for $341,000, not $305,00 as reported earlier in The Gazette, in four separate counts that will come up in court at a later date.
Last Tuesday another count was added to the lawsuit by Anair’s attorney. Shireen Fisher of East Hardwick. The additional complaint asks for $250,000 in actual damages, $1 million in punitive damages, and legal costs as compensation for “The public circulation of…false and slanderous and defamatory information.” Anair claims that the false statements were made by Town Manager Laird, and arose out of Anair’s dealings with the town concerning the federally funded river project. The lawsuit claims: That notwithstanding the successful completion of the project, the Town Selectmen have through their agent, Town Manager Ernest Laird, caused to be publicly circulated false and unprivileged language and information of and concerning Alfred Anair, including, but not limited to, reports that Alfred Anair was the subject of lawsuits other than the above-titled action for failure to properly perform on said project, that Alfred Anair had not completed said project in a satisfactory manner, and that Alfred Anair was guilty of the offense of trespass against private property.
The lawsuit continues: “. . . Alfred Anair’s ability to procure contracts and carry on his business successfully is largely dependent on the general public’s estimate of the quality of the work done by him in his line of business and on his reputation as a competent and law-abiding contractor . . . That by reason of the public circulation of said false and slanderous and defamatory information, Complainant Alfred Anair is injured in his reputation as a man and a citizen, and in his business as a contractor, and that said public circulation mental suffering inflicted on him grievous.”
The lawsuit claims that Town Manager Laird circulated statements that Anair “was dishonest in his business dealings. that his work was inferior and of unsatisfactory quality, that he had outstanding several legal claims against him. stemming from his work on the Hardwick river project, and that he was other than a law abiding citizen . . . ”
The lawsuit claims that the Hardwick Selectmen are guilty of slander “through their acquiescence to and promotion of public circulation of the above described false and unprivileged language of their agent, Town Manager Ernest Laird.
The selectmen were served with papers on the lawsuit by Police Chief Don Stubbs at their meeting last Thursday. They went into executive session for around 45 minutes to discuss
“Civil action.” which presumably meant the Anair lawsuit.
All town officers are covered by a $1 million bond and Laird said that if the courts require the town to pay anything in this case, the settlement would be covered by the bond.
The selectmen originally decided to take title to the Willey property after an official from the state Water Resources Department said that the flood prevention work done by Anair on the Lamoille River did not meet specifications.
The Water Resources Department report was later dropped when the town got two other opinions from other state and federal officials. But the selectmen decided to keep the property when the town was named in a lawsuit filed against Anair and the Willeys by Robert Bieler of Philadelphia, Pa.
