A lawsuit between Nome neighbors that centered on noise and odor from one household’s dog lot has been dismissed, and is no longer set to go before a jury this summer.
Since 2012 neighbors Kevin Bopp and wife Lynn DeFilippo have been in a legal tussle with mushers Nils Hahn and wife Diana Haecker. The neighbors claim the sound and odor of the mushers’ dog lot is a nuisance that makes living next door unbearable; the mushers counter that they’re simply running a dog kennel in rural Alaska.
Escalating tensions led Hahn and Haecker to work toward the declaration of Alaska as a “Right to Mush” state. It’s all complicated by the fact that the homes in question are in an unincorporated subdivision six miles outside of town where the City of Nome’s rules don’t apply.
The conflict came to a head last month when Kotzebue Judge Paul Roteman ruled the mushers’ dog lot—both in terms of sound and odor—would be acceptable to a “reasonable person.” That ruling rejected calls by Bopp and DeFilippo for an injunction to remove the dogs from the property before the trial. The case was then set to go before a jury in June—until all four parties agreed to dismiss the case, with prejudice, earlier this month.
“The ‘with prejudice’ means that no lawsuit regarding dog noise, or dog odors, or any of the other related complaints touched on in this lawsuit can be brought again in the future,” said Bethel attorney Myron Angstman, who represented mushers Hahn and Haecker in the case.
The attorney for Bopp and DeFilippo did not return messages asking for comment.
Angstman says another important part of the settlement is an option for mushers Hahn and Haecker to buy Bopp’s property at what he calls a “fair market” price.
Hahn said, after the judge ruled his dogs could stay put unless a jury decides otherwise, purchasing the land is a clear way forward.
“I think it’s the best option for both parties. You know, I can speak for myself, it’s certainly the best option for us, to buy the land and we offer Mr. Bopp above market value, so, I think that’s the way to go.”
For Bopp, settling simply came down to rising legal fees that he said would have ballooned through weeks of trial. Now he’s dropping the case without any changes to a situation he said made life “unbearable” at home.
“I made a decision because of the money, mainly,” Bopp said. “I don’t want to spend any more. And it’s really tiring going to court,” he laughed. “This suit has beat me with money, so, I really can’t say much as come out in my favor.”
The “pending contract” for mushers Hahn and Haecker to buy Bopp’s property hinges on him relocating his house elsewhere. Bopp says that’s easier said than done in Nome’s tight housing market, but the settlement gives him a one-year window to complete the move.
Also part of the settlement, Angstman noted, is an agreement by both parties to pay their own attorney fees, costs now running to thousands of dollars after years of court filings and legal maneuvering. Attorney Angstman said that’s no small concession for either party, given that the losing side of a lawsuit can under Alaska law be ordered by the court to pay some or all of the other party’s attorney fees.
