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The court finds for the plaintiff
A file photo

The Massachusetts Appellate Court administered the third strike this morning to Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch’s attempt to hijack land set aside and now benefiting the school girls at the Woodward School for Girls, land originally bequeathed by President John Adams two centuries ago.

This is not the first time that the City of Quincy has been rebuked in court for endeavoring to roll Woodward’s school girls.

Previously both trial courts and the Supreme Judicial Court have excoriated the City of Quincy over its woeful long mishandling and worse of the Adams Fund over decades and so removed the city for cause from the role of trustee for the fund which Woodward is the sole beneficiary. 

The John Adams Courthouse, home of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
A file photo

That and so also slapped the City of Quincy with millions of dollars of damages, interest penalties, and court costs.

An appellate court opinion published today regarding the latest dispute — Jalkut v. Quincy (AC 23-P-391) — continues the history of courts calling out the City of Quincy for illegal actions, if not worse, against Woodward’s school girls.

That and to a knowledgeable eye this appellate court ruling also threw serious shade against the City of Quincy technically as well as implicitly per a savvy read.

Adams Academy building and home of the surely now nervous Quincy Hysterical Society
Image via WIkipedia

Specifically, in the matter of the latest dispute,  Thomas P. Jalkut, the trustee for the Adams Fund, flied suit against the City of Quincy over its laughable claim that the city owned the land underneath the historical Adams Academy building and in which the Quincy Hysterical Society is a long time tenant.

In spite of a previous trial court judgement ruling several years ago that found in no uncertain words that the City of Quincy variously did not not have any basis to claim ownership of the land as well as a subsequent advisory finding by Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Kimberly supportive of the trial court ruling, Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch truculently then opted to have City of Quincy file an adverse eminent domain takings of just the Adams Academy building for a price to be decided upon later. 

Today’s appellate opinion piths the City of Quincy’s already rejected by the court premise that the City of Quincy already owned the all but assuredly far more valuable land underneath the building.

In short, one could thus readily view the mayor’s actions as essentially akin to grand theft land.

Even more tax dollars going up in smoke
Image via cheatsheet.com

At the same time, this appellate court’s ruling will not be the end of it.

For starters, it is all but a given that the fund trustee will soon file a claim for damages, interest penalties and court court against the City of Quincy over its illegally asserting ownership of the land in recent years. 

In turn, there is no question that any such damages claims will be awarded by the court with only how much to be graveled down by a judge in due course at a tine unknown at this point.

Even so, to this eventual verity, Quincy Quarry News’ legal desk projects that what will likely be awarded to the Adams Fund to run in the several million dollars to five million range open expectation with the possibility that paying additional punitive damages could also be imposed upon the City of Quincy.

A man who Is his own lawyer has a fool for a client
A Quincy Quarry News file photo

Further, it is only reasonable to suspect that Mayor Koch will want to appeal the Appellate Court ruling up to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and so extend his long ongoing losing streak with his appeals to the Supreme Judicial Court.

Needless to say, actually going forward with such foolishness would only result in imposing even more expense imposed on local taxpayers who will surely end up stuck with the bills. 

Specifically, any further playing of the Delay Game in court comes at the cost of 12% annual simple interest penalty ascribed to the damages awarded and perhaps even 18% if the court decides to punish the mayor over any further frivolous appeal(s) as a waste of the courts time.

DOWN AGAIN GOES TOMMY!!!
A Neil Leifer/Sports Illustrated image

That and risk further judicial ire over any further abusings of Woodward’s school girls.

Also, local taxpayers would surely end up on the hook to pay for damages ordered paid by the court as well as for both sides’ court costs.

In the meanwhile, this court ruling is at least a technical knockout count on Mayor Koch’s grandious plans to utilize the Adams Academy as a key part of his assumed to be nine figure grandiose plans for an Adams Family Museum. 

How so?

For but starters, one can only assume that prospective donors to his latest in a long string of his over the top Edifice Complexes will now decline to donate given the court spanking Mayor Koch for his illegal land grab.

After all, it is not up to donors to bail out the mayor’s legal woes, not to mention that any such private donations would all but assuredly not be tax-deductible as charitable contributions.

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