AFTER YEARS OF living in home-ownership limbo, about 250 residents of the Green Hills Estates mobile home park in Raymond can finally get title insurance and sell their properties, thanks to an unusual Pro Bono collaboration involving several members of a large law firm.

Attorneys Alexander J. Walker, Jr., and Karen Solomon McGinley, of the Manchester office of Devine, Millimet & Branch, led the effort to right inaccuracies in the recorded Green Hills subdivision plan that for years had prevented homeowners from obtaining title insurance or selling their property. Walker, McGinley and a team of support staff put in about 140 hours of time over nearly two years, totaling about $35,000 in legal time contributed pro bono to resolve the situation.

The original subdivision plan for Green Hills Estates was created in 1965 and the subdivision was built in 1966. The road that was built through the subdivision was essentially put in the wrong place – its angle was different from the subdivision plan – and as a result, a number of lots didn’t match their deeds. Many lots were a different size and in a slightly different location than depicted on the subdivision plan and corresponding deed.

Because of these defective deeds, Green Hills residents "faced significant problems in transferring their properties and obtaining good and marketable title to their lots," court documents said. Although the problem existed for years, few were aware of it during that time. As numerous Green Hills residents began to realize the flaw and request tax abatements from the town to address their corresponding loss in property values, the town of Raymond requested help from the Legislature.

Raymond Selectman Richard Ladd, town manager Rick Bares and two legislators, Rep. Frank Bishop (R-Raymond) and Sen. Jack Barnes (R-Dist. 17), were instrumental in getting the Legislature to pass a local law in 1997, HB 160-L, which sought to clarify property ownership in Green Hills. The bill allowed Raymond to commission and approve an "as built" plan – a corrected assessor’s plat depicting the subdivision as actually constructed. Record title to lots within Green Hills could be conformed by reference to the new, corrected plat. The new plan was drawn up, approved by the Raymond Planning Board and placed on record.

Despite the Legislature’s approval of this remedy, title companies balked at the solution and continued to refuse to sell title insurance to residents. An opinion by the NH Attorney General’s Office, solicited by House Speaker Donna Sytek, reaffirmed that HB 160 was a valid exercise of local authority. The opinion, however, failed to persuade the title companies who were refusing to sell insurance to Green Hills homeowners. The inability of the homeowners to obtain this coverage made their homes virtually unsalable.

That’s when the NH Bar and the Pro Bono Program became involved. The costs incurred by the town of Raymond in developing the HB 160 remedy were being distributed not among all residents, but only among the residents of the Green Hills mobile home park through special assessments. Most residents of the park are low-income individuals or families. Because of the need for a final resolution of the situation, and the fact that Green Hills residents were shouldering the majority of the cost of finding one, the Bar’s Real Estate Section and Pro Bono Program were called upon by legislators to help. George Moore, then president of the Bar and a partner at Devine Millimet, asked McGinley, a real estate attorney, and Walker, a litigator, to lead the effort to find a solution to the Green Hills property issue. Despite the fact that the law firm would be representing the town of Raymond, it was agreed that the case would be done pro bono because any legal costs would ultimately fall onto the low-income Green Hills residents.

It was a good opportunity for the firm, which has large real estate and litigation departments, to apply some of its strengths to a Pro Bono case, many of which typically involve litigation in domestic relations cases. "As a non-litigator, I felt this case was something we could do that differed from the usual Pro Bono case. It gave us a unique opportunity to do pro bono work," said McGinley.

"But we didn’t decide to get involved in this case on our own – the firm decided it was a problem worth fixing and a case worth taking, and gave us full approval and support to take on this Pro Bono case," said Walker.

Walker and McGinley worked with a team of up to seven – including associates Shana G.R. Fisher and Daniel E. Will, real estate paralegal Kitty Peterson and lobbyist Teresa Rosenburger, as well as Rep. Bishop and Raymond town officials – to assess the options for getting judicial resolution of the matter. Over about a year, they gathered background information, met with parties and analyzed the work put into HB 160. The team decided there were three possible solutions: petitioning to quiet title, obtaining corrective deeds for every resident, or petitioning for declaratory relief.

"There were about 600 people and entities involved, including mortgage companies and others with an interest, which would have made it logistically inefficient to get corrective deeds for all residents. A suit to quiet title also had logistical problems and wouldn’t have been an expedient solution," said Walker.

"A person’s home is their biggest asset. For that to be tied up was a great burden for these residents," said McGinley. "We wanted to find the most efficient, expedient solution."

That solution, the legal team determined, would be to seek a declaratory judgment that HB 160-L is a valid exercise of the state’s power to address localized problems through local legislation. The issue raised by title examiners concerned the constitutional authority of the Legislature "to take or authorize actions affecting recorded descriptions of real property, except as authorized under the takings clause Part I, Article 12 of the New Hampshire Constitution," according to the petition for declaratory judgement filed in Rockingham County Superior Court in May 2001.

With the court’s approval, all interested parties in the case were served through publication. After the petition was served and a period of time had passed during which no one challenged it or filed an appearance, Judge Philip Hollman issued a decree on Oct. 22, 2001, granting the relief the town of Raymond was seeking. "Now, not only the AG’s office gave an opinion that HB 160 was adequate and constitutional, Rockingham County Superior Court had determined the same thing," said Walker.

There are still some title companies unwilling to sell Green Hills residents insurance, but companies like Chicago Title and Ticor Title now will.

For McGinley and Walker, this Pro Bono experience was a satisfying one. "At the end of traditional cases, clients are thankful for your service, but still often unhappy with the ending. Rarely are they completely satisfied with the outcome," said Walker. "In this case, the residents got 100 percent of what they were asking for."

"The legislative delegation, residents and town were all happy with the resolution," agreed McGinley.

"We were quite satisfied with the result," confirmed Ann Bennett, former president of the now defunct Green Hills Homeowners Association. "It was fantastic of the attorneys to donate so much of their time to helping us. It obviously worked out well."

Rep. Bishop said the case showed how attorneys and legislators can work together to solve problems for NH residents. He thanked the attorneys of Devine Millimet for "realizing what needed to be done and doing it."

"This situation was a long, drawn-out affair. I thought the attorneys did a terrific job with the whole thing," he said.

The case is also an example of how a larger firm can get involved in the Pro Bono Program by using its many resources for cases outside the traditional Pro Bono domestic relations case.

"In this case, people were presented with a problem, but didn’t think of involving a large law firm like us. The Bar and Pro Bono Program realized that a large firm would have the expertise in a number of different areas – real estate, zoning, litigation – to come up with a solution that was both creative and expedient," said Walker.

"This was a situation that was already a ‘hot potato.’ The Bar Association recognized that there were problems that extended beyond a traditional Pro Bono case but that, ultimately, it would affect these low-income residents. The firm recognized the need and obligation to take this case pro bono and find a creative solution to a fairly complicated matter," said McGinley. "Hopefully this will broaden people’s view of Pro Bono."

"The Pro Bono Program is not only about family law, and this case is a great illustration of that fact," said Virginia Martin, the NHBA’s associate executive director for legal services.

"The Devine firm’s efforts made a difference for hundreds of lower-income and elderly people in a non-family law case. While we always have great need for volunteers with domestic matters, Pro Bono offers attorneys a variety of case opportunities, including homelessness prevention, debtor relief and basic estate planning, as well as mentoring and other participation options," Martin said.

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