Schuman to Pay for the Fight Against His Secondhand Smoke Case

A Greenbelt man who sued his housing cooperative in a secondhand smoke case and lost will now have to help the cooperative pay its legal bills.

The plaintiff in , David Schuman, reported he just got a notice saying his housing cooperative's monthly co-op fee was increasing because insurance rates had gone up to defend against law suits. 

One of those lawsuits was his.

Some Greenbelt Homes, Inc. (GHI) members are complaining of fee increases in the $60 and $70 range. Schuman said his was under $100. That would mean some homeowners would be paying more than $400 a month in co-op fees.

“That’s why the situation is so difficult, because as a member I’m suing myself,” he said.

In David S. Schuman v. Greenbelt Homes, Inc. et al., , Greenbelt Homes, Inc. (GHI) and his townhome neighbors over the nuisance caused by his neighbors’ secondhand smoke.

Though Schuman and other members of the co-op will be paying the increased fees related to the co-op’s defense against him, departing General Manager Gretchen Overdurff said that not all of the increase is due to Schuman’s lawsuit.

“We’ve had a huge increase in our insurance rate due to our claim history,” Overdurff said, referencing fires, two situations involving trees falling on homes and two lawsuits — Schuman’s being one and another that she said dealt with a person with chemical sensitivities.

Schuman’s co-op fees are not the only fees that are piling up. His legal fees have mounted as well. He estimated his legal costs are in “the many tens of thousands of dollars.” But he intends to persist in his cause and filed notice of an appeal on Nov. 28, according to information records from the Circuit Court of Maryland's website.

Though Schuman may fight the nuisance in court, he has no plans to appeal to the GHI membership asking them to force his neighbor, Darko Popovic, to stop smoking in Popovic's adjoining yard. Schuman reported that he only recently, while in court, learned he had the option of appealing to the membership at large.

“The cow is way out of the barn at this point. I have spent my retirement. I have $20,000 I have to pay my lawyer and expert witness,” Schuman said, in response to a question about why he would not appeal to the membership.

He also said he was not certain that the membership would rule in his favor. The management, however, can bring the question to the membership if it wants to, Schuman said, adding, "It's not my obligation to do that."

Though he is not giving up on his case, he may give up on living in GHI. Whether or not he sells his townhome, Schuman announced that he and his fiancé are looking at homes, and if they find the right one, they might buy.

“That is the plan because my fiancé and I want to have children, and I’m not going to bring my children up in my environment,” Schuman said.

Schuman reported on Monday that he took his townhome off the market a couple of days previous, after what he considered an extremely low offer for $200,000 that asked him to pay $8,000 in closing costs.

When Schuman put his home on the market for $259,900 with Greenbelt real estate agent Leonard Wallace, he admitted Wallace told him if he wanted to get any offers he’d have to list for under $200,000. He eventually reduced it to $218,500.

But Schuman said the original price reflected the value of about $65,000 in renovations. Though he paid approximately $72,000 for his townhome unit in 1995, it was appraised for $256,000 around 2008, according to Schuman.

And if it weren’t for the smoking problem, Schuman said he wouldn’t have to sell his house in a low point in the market.

He thinks providing a disclosure warning about the smoking problem to prospective buyers probably played a factor in his not getting a higher offer. When people came to see the house, they’d ask him about it, Schuman said.

He said he tells prospective buyers that he can't sit out in his backyard or on his patio because of the smoke problem, Schuman said. , Schuman explained that he felt he should tell people.

Looking back on the toll the case has taken on him, if he could go back and decide whether to do this again — “I wouldn’t. Right now I have this mountain of debt," Schuman said.

But despite his increasing co-op and legal fees Schuman said he will continue fighting because he feels the court made the wrong decision

“I just want to live in my house without the smoke coming in. I don’t have any choice but to see this through to the end,” Schuman said.