Final Day: Secondhand Smoke Trial Cheat Sheet

Case: David S. Schuman v. Greenbelt Homes, Inc. et al.

Plaintiff:

David S. Schuman - A lawyer for NASA and resident of Greenbelt Homes, who is suing his next-door neighbors and housing cooperative for $300,000 in compensatory damages for failing to honor the cooperatives Mutual Ownership Contract.

Defendants:

Greenbelt Homes, Inc. (GHI) - A cooperative of 1,600 homes in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Darko and Svetlana Popovic - Schuman’s next-door neighbors. Darko is defending himself in the case. He works for Voice of America.

Judge:

Judge Albert Northrop

Lawyers:

J.P. Szymkowicz - Primary attorney for the plaintiff and a partner at Szymkowicz and Szymkowicz. He received a finance degree from Georgetown in 1991 and a law degree from the University of Miami in 1994, according to his resume.

Rita Turner – Attorney for the plaintiff and deputy director of the Center for Tobacco Regulation in the school of law at the University of Maryland. She received a law degree from the University of Maryland in 2008 and a political science degree from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 2003, according to her UM profile.

Jason Fisher – Primary defense attorney for GHI. Fisher is a principal attorney with Lerch, Early & Brewer. He received a finance degree from the University of Maryland in 1993 and a law degree from Widener University in 1997, according to a biography of him on Lerch, Early & Brewer’s website.

Michael Goecke – Defense attorney for GHI. Goecke is an associate attorney with Lerch, Early & Brewer. He received a degree in English from the University of Michigan in 1994 and a law degree from Wayne State University in 1998, according to Lerch, Early & Brewer’s website.

Witnesses:

Carolyn and Kevin Hammett – A husband and wife couple that testified separately on Day 1 of the trial. Both said they had smelled the scent of smoke in Schuman’s home during visits spanning nearly 15 years.

Frank Gervasi – The contractor who did renovations on Schuman’s townhouse in 2008. On Day 1 of the trial, he testified that his crew “meticulously sealed” the home.

Dorry Ipolito – The Popovics’ other next-door neighbor and a retired Maryland prosecutor. She testified on Day 1 of the trial that the secondhand smoke wafting into her own home from the Popovics’ residence may have been triggering her asthma attacks. She also said there was a “lack of cooperation” from GHI in dealing with the problem.

David Schuman – called to the stand on Day 1, Day 2, Day 5, and Day 6. He testified as to his medical problems, the nuisance related to the smell of secondhand smoke in his townhouse, about renovations done to his unit and his attempts to resolve the issue administratively with GHI.

Gretchen Overdurff – General manager of GHI, she was called to the stand on Day 2 and Day 6 as a representative of GHI. She testified about the administrative measures that GHI undertook to resolve Schuman’s complaints.

James Repace – Plaintiff’s expert witness on secondhand smoke. Repace has a master's degree in physics and has written a number of peer-reviewed articles about the science of secondhand smoke. Repace testified on Day 2, Day 3, and Day 6 on two experiments he conducted in Schuman’s home as well as on the risk associated with secondhand smoke. He said that he “basically developed the field” related to exposure to secondhand smoke.

Dr. Alfred Munzer – Plaintiff’s expert witness on medical problems related to secondhand smoke. Munzer is a pulmonologist who practices at Washington Adventist Hospital. He testified on Day 3 of the trial that the symptoms Schuman described during the trial “are evidence of a harmful exposure to secondhand smoke.”

Dr. Ronald Gots – Defense’s expert witness on effects of secondhand smoke. Gots is a pharmacologist who is board certified in toxicology. He testified on Day 4 of the trial that the levels of secondhand smoke recorded in Schuman’s home by Repace were too low to present a cancer or an irritant risk.

Sylvia Lewis – Lewis was a member of the GHI member complaints panel in 2009 when Schuman’s 2009 complaint was heard. She testified on Day 4 of the trial that the panel asked the Popovics and Schuman to work out the problem themselves because there was no solution amenable to both parties—The Popovics wouldn’t stop smoking at the time and Schuman only wanted them to stop. She also testified that Schuman's 2008 renovations affected the seals GHI had put in place and about avenues of complaint available to him.

Tokey Boswell – Current president of the GHI Board of Directors. Boswell testified on Day 5 of the trial. He said that the board did not support terminating the Popovics’ membership to GHI over the nuisance claim and therefore had no other steps they could make because Schuman refused to support any other mitigating measures.

Darko Popovic – One of the defendants in the case. Popovic called himself to the stand on Day 5 of the trial. He detailed his and his wife’s smoking habits and said that he had dramatically cut down on smoking and his wife had completely stopped smoking when Svetlana became ill in 2010.

Here’s Greenbelt Patch’s full coverage: