Earthquake Stalls Secondhand Smoke Trial

Before the tremors struck, inside the Prince George’s County Circuit Court, Greenbelt Homes Inc. (GHI) attorney Jason Fisher had been attempting to resize a PowerPoint on his computer. Gretchen Overdurff, GHI general manager, had been talking to some people in the audience, while the court stenographer was looking over her transcript.

All of a sudden the room began to shake. It felt like the floor was moving slightly.

“We’re having an earthquake,” the stenographer announced.

Those gathered in the courtroom took cover under the doorway leading into the room. People were scurrying around outside in the hallway, some were shouting to evacuate the building.

Within minutes, we were guided to a stairwell through an adjacent courtroom and ushered in to join the crowd exiting the building.

James Repace, the biophysicist who has testified as an expert witness for David Schuman, reported that he and Schuman, were in an elevator when the earthquake hit. He said he had thought that it was malfunctioning. But they made it out of the elevator in time to evacuate the building with us.

Once outside, people poured out from emergency exits. Police urged the crowd to move away from the building.

Around 3 p.m., police officers announced that the building would remain closed for the rest of the day, ending any hope that the trial would conclude on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, the court heard testimony in what had seemed likely to be be the final day in David Schuman’s case against his housing cooperative, GHI, for its failure to prohibit the nuisance created by his townhome neighbors, the Popovics', secondhand smoke.

Tokey Boswell had testified, followed by David Schuman taking the stand for the second time. The last witness to testify was Darko Popovic.

When Boswell, the current president of the GHI Board of Directors, took the stand, he echoed some statements made earlier in the trial by Sylvia Lewis.

“We’re not the smoking police,” Boswell said, and called the situation between the Popovics and Schuman “intractable.” He said the membership of GHI would not support terminating the Popovics’ membership over a nuisance claim and that Schuman refused to support any mitigating measures, such as further sealing in his apartment, using fans and HEPA filters, or closing his window when Darko Popovic smokes outside.

Next to take the stand was David Schuman. Fisher took the opportunity to submit a number of exhibits to the court, which were verified by Schuman.

Schuman’s attorney, J.P. Szymkowicz, questioned Fisher about the relevance of the exhibits, many of which were related to Schuman’s renovations.

“The relevance of these documents will become quite clear,” Fisher said. Soon after, without explaining the documents, Fisher announced that the defense rested its case.

With GHI done presenting its case, Darko Popovic called himself to the stand. In a narrative presented to the courtroom, he talked about his and his wife, Svetlana’s smoking habits.

He said from late 1997 to January of 2009, the lull period in which Schuman did not file any complaints about secondhand smoke with GHI, that he smoked a pack of cigarettes a day and that his wife smoked a little less than him. He noted that they would often have friends over who also smoked.

“There were occasions when six or seven smokers would smoke inside or outside,” Popovic said.

“Then my wife fell ill and we stopped smoking inside,” Popovic said, who noted later that this happened in March of 2010. “She completely quit smoking, not only at home, but altogether.”

He said currently he never smokes more than two cigarettes in the evening while at his home.

Szymkowicz asked Popovic if he would agree to walk 75 feet from his property to smoke.

“I agree if every member in Greenbelt has to go 75 feet,” Popovic responded.

Then Szymkowicz asked him why he wouldn’t agree to 75 feet.

“My wife in her current situation can’t walk more than five steps with a walker,” Popovic replied, “I like to sit outside with her and talk with her.”

He said her illness had nothing to do with smoking, but that even so, he smokes several meters from her.

Later, Szymkowicz asked him if he is trying to quit smoking now.

“Not now,” Popovic said, “Now is not convenient for a smoker to quit smoking.”

At the conclusion of Popovic’s testimony, Judge Albert Northrop adjourned for lunch. Afterwards, just as those involved in the case were returning to the courtroom from the break, the earthquake tremors hit.

It is not clear when the trial will resume. When it does Repace is slated to take the stand to clarify points for the plaintiff with closing arguments to follow.