Marissa Lowthert Files ‘Notice of Claim’ with Wilton

1. Did Marissa’s husband get laid off from his job? just asking because this is hilarious and some adults need special attention.

   1. This is not hilarious, either from the perspective of the taxpayer who has to pay the defense fees, or for our friends and neighbors, and in my case, my wife, who are named as defendants in this contemplated, quite baseless legal proceeding.

   2. That is very offensive. Who are you to judge whether people have jobs or not? Are you part of the one percent? Not everyone is as lucky as you are. That’s not even your real name. Man up if you’re going to post hate speech. I love Wilton, I love the Center, and I am appalled by this frivolity.

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3. Not to mitigate this woman’s allegations because there is no reason not to believe her and many reasons to believe her, but knowing a few of the people listed as defendants I can say that not everyone listed as a defendant would do what has been asserted in this suit. It’s just the nature of lawsuits to list an abundance of defendants. It’s legal strategy. It’s not though a perfect reflection of reality.

   1. While I’m not in a position to refute that “there is no reason not to believe her”; perhaps you can share some of the “many reasons to believe her” portion of your statement? I think it would help elevate the discussion from a place of random ascertains to one where people can form opinions based on facts.

      1. It is time for ALL and ANY citizens who support BOE and believe they have acted appropriately to rally behind the persons named in this suit and bring this to a close. It is a waste of their time and our money. Perhaps when the suit is dismissed, we as the resident’s of Wilton should counter sue for damages and recovery of legal costs.

         1. Agree.

         2. Sounds like you are trying to bully the plaintiffs into backing off. That isn’t the best strategy. There is point of agreement and disagreement, each side needs to force their attorneys to disclose the agreed to points and compromise.

            1. I see no reason for Wilton to compromise or try to settle a frivilous lawsuit. The air quality tests were performed properly and the results show that there is no air quality problem at Miller Driscoll. This lawsuit is appalling and should make all taxpayers angry.

            2. The reason to compromise is because, at the very least, somewhere in her complaint is an amount of truth that everyone agrees on. if that agreement isn’t reached pre-trial, everyone will be paying attorneys fees that may outpace the cost of actual damages here. Crazy.
               I’m not saying give in to a complaint with zero validity but here you have at least some agreement. I would make real effort to compromise if I were her and the town, and I wouldn’t let per hour attorneys handle the negotiations because settling quick is not in their best interest.

            3. Dear “ANONYMOUS”. WV_NYC_2014
               It has nothing to do with bullying. It is about that there are many students and many taxpayers as well. ALL of them have a right to be heard and lend their support when it is ALL of our resources that are at risk. If any bullying is going on it is coming in the form of this suit which was filed.

            4. @WV_NYC_2014,
               Are you an attorney?

            5. No, I am not an attorney. I have over the last few years though a few sets of attorneys working for me on a few different issues, and so I speak with a good degree of experience. I am also trained in multilateral negotiation situations, albeit most of my experience is international and in regard to investment issues. Throw per hour attorneys in to a negotiation and all parties to the dispute walk away with less, and the attorneys the most. They are necessary to an extent, but don’t hand the reigns of this dispute totally over to them. My attorneys in Manhattan are shocked by how in Connecticut people just totally hand their disputes over and their attorneys then agitate otherwise reconcilable disputes into full fledged expensive lawsuits that their clients end up paying both parties legal fees for. Crazy.

            6. you are quite the expert! perhaps you should contact Ms Lowthert and the fledgling PRE directly with your advice.
               I hope the town counter sues and recovers all costs associated with this attention grabbing frivolous lawsuit.

            7. Dude, anyone can file a frivolous lawsuit.
               http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Lee_Riches

            8. Not really. I mean you can but you wouldn’t. Filing a truly frivolous lawsuit, if you have any level of education beyond primary school and any level of asset, is financial suicide because if it’s frivolous a counter-suit for damages will easily be won.

         3. Agree. It is about time that she puts this issue to rest. Perhaps she should investigate her own parenting style as a possible reason for her children’s “symptoms” rather than pointing fingers.

      2. The primary reason to believe that within her suit filed she has a legitimate complaint is the cost and criteria of bringing a suit to court; you don’t get to file a suit if you don’t have a legitimate complaint and an abundance of evidence to support your complaint UNLESS your attorneys are willing to do that. I don’t know where her attorneys are from or what their reputation is.
         If her attorneys have filed a complaint that has no link to reality, no evidence, then her attorneys could be sanctioned, and she could be counter-sued. Filing a lawsuit is not easy. Winning a lawsuit is very difficult.
         Based on my experience of dealing with lawyers in the Wilton area, I have been and my attorneys remain in shock as to how much the Wilton area attorneys will agitate an otherwise reconcilable dispute into full blown lawsuits. It’s unreal. Maybe that is what is happening here. If so, the only parties that will win, the attorneys.

         1. Again, I’d really like some support to your claim that there are “many reasons to believe her”. The idea that she couldn’t file a complaint unless she had “evidence” and therefore she must be right on some level is just as absurd as the notion that every defendant must be guilty of something or they wouldn’t be on trial in the first place.

            I’d REALLY like some solid facts to back up your point of view. And please, let’s remove the straw-man argument that “the only parties that will win, the attorneys” to distract from the issue at hand; who the losers are in all of this which are the residents and employees of the town. Being mired in this kind of nonsense is to the detriment of everyone involved. The town’s finances and reputations; the distraction to the teachers and administrators. The list goes on.

            Elsewhere you stated that the parties should come together and compromise. I do believe the town did as Marissa allegedly disclosed that the town was willing to pay her an amount to fund a private school education for her children which would have both cost the town far less money and would have rectified her concerns on air quality as her children would no longer have to attend the schools.

            As pointed out by another poster, the lack of proper PR allowed this to be spun into the notion that this was hush money because the town KNEW there was something wrong and was just trying to cover it up. How terribly salacious! Unfortunately, our tabloid-based news has conditioned readers to focus on such sensational claims rather than demanding journalism geared towards uncovering facts in an unbiased way allowing the readers and residents to form fact-based and informed opinions.

            This is sad on so many levels.

            1. Relax. My posting on a blog doesn’t make me judge and jury. It’s just a discussion. The facts you need are in the complaint, right? Look it up, if they aren’t listed in the filing, then there is no complaint.

            2. Just seems odd you are commenting at all here. Seems you are providing blanket statements about the process of policies, organizations, cases and your perception of Wilton attorneys all in general but nothing specific or factual related to this particular claim nor the history of allegations. Are you just trolling the site trying to play devil’s advocate or do you have something additive to share?

   2. Re: reasons not to believe the allegations – my understanding is that this is not the first – but one of several and varied ’causes’ ranging from neighborhood disputes to school policies or issues that Mrs. Lowthert has been behind and taken a (often regarded unwarranted) controversial stance on. This one issue in particular gaining the most significant attention (and incurring substantial costs, energy and time that arguably residents would consider as wasted). It becomes difficult to overcome that reputation and even engage in understanding the mass emails she sends that offer incomplete information and vague or far-reaching explanations for the accusations. As another parent had pointed out on the FB page – the testing done refutes her claims. And further, how is it only her 2, out of the hundreds of children attending the school – have become ill?

      Yet hundreds of thousands of tax dollars have been spent in legal battles with her on this.

      1. I don’t know enough about it, but I do think that sometimes, and I have noticed this especially in the Wilton area, lawyers keep the arguments going and going, and that drives up the cost AND encourages parties to keep the dispute going. So if it’s true that the studies were done correctly and the schools are safe, then look at the attorneys and force them to disclose where there is room to stop and settle appropriately. Now that media attention is on the issue, it’s like a nice spotlight on attorneys; force each side to point out where they agree and where they disagree and where they are willing to compromise at.

         1. There actually seems like an ubsurd preponderance of evidence to refute this mother’s claims … For example – The AIR tested CLEAN !! The litigants’ 15 minutes is over. The Town should seek to recoup all legal and related costs associated with this outrageous harassment. An apology to the dozens of folks this family has harmed would be meaningless at this point as it would be insincere. But they should be held financially responsible for their actions. Dr. Richards, Bruce Likly and all the others subjected to this outrageousness deserve our support ! They have mine.

            1. It is not harassment to file a substantiated lawsuit. That doesn’t mean that her complaints weigh more than whatever is the town’s counter-argument or that her complaints totally satisfy whatever legal standards are going to be applied if it goes to court but it does mean that she is not ‘harassing’ anyone.
               It’s unfortunate that it has gotten to this point. I see a couple of names on that list that I know don’t belong there. They would never allow any child, not least because their own children and grandchildren have gone to these schools, to go through the toxicity that the complaint alleges. The same people are also, as far as I have known them, very much the ‘let’s sort this out reasonably together’ types.
               I hope the sort of bullying language or tone I’m seeing here doesn’t flow off the internet and into everyday out and about discussions because it’s not nice, it’s not fair. It’s not even necessary.

            2. Not to be argumentative WV – but how is it substantiated when the air has tested clean all 3 TIMES ! The bullying as you call it – refers more to a family suing 34 well meaning citizens – some in their professional capacities and others who are well meaning volunteers !

4. I would think that this sort of suit naming so many individuals who are in charge of running our town and schools will be extremely time consuming and emotionally/mentally draining for many of these people who, at the same time, need to effectively keep our school and town running.

   1. It’s just legal process. The plaintiffs can’t do anything about the process, there is no room for creativity within the process itself. In order for plaintiffs to bring this claim, these are the people who by law are considered defendants. The plaintiffs can’t leave people out just because the people have other things to do; this is business not playground shenanigans.
      No attorney – unless they are looking forward to sanctions – would file against anyone for which there was no legal link to the complaint. And, again, I know with nearly if not total 100% certainty, a couple of defendants on this list who would never themselves do what the complaint alleges. They might though be working within an organization that has done what the complaint alleges. This is just the way the law works and organizations function.

      1. That’s actually not quite true. Plaintiffs do have total control over who they sue. Our legal system does not compel plaintiffs to bring suit against anyone against their will. She very well could have left people out or chosen to selectively sue some people and not others. It’s going to be unbelievably time consuming and expensive for the town yes, especially when you consider that courts have the power to sever the cases against each defendant and run separate trials (which they have the authority to do, and which often happens in cases like these where the defendants have varying levels of involvement)

         1. Good points. I myself have never been able to find, nor would I want to, an attorney who would file a frivolous/unsubstantiated complaint. Every attorney I have had always demands a lot of paperwork upfront because they certainly themselves don’t want a bad reputation. However, I have also in a suit asked that a certain individual not be named a defendant because I thought he was more a ‘lackey’ than a real decision maker but my attorneys explained to me why the individual still had to be named. Once a complaint gets to court system it seems to be less a matter of simple ‘right v. wrong’ and more about which side can spend the most, and maneuver and contort itself to suit the legal system’s structure.
            I know a couple of the defendants on that Wilton suit list. From what I know of them over a few decades, there is no way that they as individuals would ever allow anyone, never mind children that at times have included their own, sit within environmentally unsafe conditions. They would sooner break a law to stop that from happening than break a law in order to enable it. I hope that truth comes out in this process.

5. As a new resident not having the background in this I can tell you that Wilton and the schools have done a terrible job on PR on this and countering news stories. Example, the one of the air quality studies being done with the windows open, how can anyone responsible hire a supplier like that and let that happen. Gives off the feeling that something is being hidden. Furthermore, if such simple things are being done incorrectly it raises speculation on all decisions being made. Another example is the ‘hush money’ she recently received. Proper or not, I did not see a vigorous defense of that and even the perception of a pay off is something we should stay away from. Our public officials and schools should be challenged because there is a tremendous amount of waste out there.

   1. Wasn’t the so called offer of ‘hush’ money part of an out-placement attempt in settlement discussions to put an end to her harassment in a way more affordable than having to participate in a seemingly endless legal defense?

      Unfortunaly as was stated in prior articles, the BOE, school employees and town official cannot do a ‘better job’ at PR when information provided comes through via sensationalized emails from one side on a case where the other side is protected by privacy laws. The Lewtharts have proven themselves too litigious in nature and the liability involved would leave the town/district vulnerable escalating this even beyond where it is now.

      1. Perhaps the town and schools should enlist the skills of a professional crisis communications specialist and treat this like a business would. Sometimes saying nothing is a position of weakness, even if it is the high road.

6. In the past 12 months two independent IAQ tests showed the same results-
   there are no air quality issue at M-D. I am offended that this town and its employees, aka the employees of the taxpayers of Wilton, are further distracted from their duties to us, the taxpayers, by this case after qualified professionals scientifically determined there are no air quality issues at M-D. Must we, the citizens of this town, be held legal hostage because someone doesn’t like the scientific truth? I’m offended.

7. It is unfortunate and unacceptable that one person would choose to waste our hard earned tax dollars this way.

8. PRE “Parents for Responsible Education”. Does this fledgling organisation “led” by Ms Lowthert have any website we can peruse? I find it interesting that there was intimation that there were other parents associated and the only people who are bringing frivolous action against Wilton are the Lowtherts.

9. In a Good Morning Wilton interview on 12/7/13 that printed on 1/7/14, Marissa stated “The way that this started was simply that my son is in the basement for the second year in a row. Another parent raised concerns about being in the basement and the air quality down there. I asked to see the reports. Had the reports been
   given to me and been fine, that would have been the end of the story.”

   ·So she was upset that her son was in the basement for two years in a row.

   ·There were no medical concerns with her children then

   ·The only reason this came to her attention was from a concern from another parent

   ·She states if the reports were given to her initially and been fine – that would have been the end of the story.

   In that same interview she states, “I don’t know that we have a problem, but I don’t know that we don’t have a problem, and all I’ve
   ever wanted is to have the data and the facts, and to know one way or another.”

   ·Tests were all redone and results were that there were no causes for alarm. So now she knows there is no problem and has the data and the facts – but she is now suing on extraordinary claims about having to take her kids out of the school and health issues.

   Last month she claimed the schools offered her hush money to the tune of $267,000 in return for her silence. Does this make sense? At that time the Air Quality issues were all being tested and addressed, with those results pending and not knowing the results, why would the schools do that?

   When the results came back showing everything conformed to standards she then attacked the company who did the tests.

   This has gotten old. She said if the reports were fine it would be end of story. Then she took issue with the firm who conducted them. She said all she ever wanted is to have the facts. She now has them, yet she is now suing.

   There has been nothing but a series of accusations from her that have been shown to not be the case. She states one thing then her actions do another.

   For a woman so concerned about our budget, she is going to sue the town and its hard working volunteers and teachers? Do us all a favor and stop wasting our time and resources!
   For those commenting about bad PR by the BOE by the way they have chosen to respond…just because the Board doesn’t stoop to baseless accusations like Lowthert doesn’t give them bad PR. They are taking the high road…the professional road.

10. The “claim” states that the named accused showed a “repeated and concerted failure….to acknowledge and remediate these (IAQ) conditions and their retaliatory conduct against us (Lowthert’s) following the exercise of our rights to petition for redress of grievances and to speak publically about these issues.”
    Not only did they acknowledge her concern, but IAQ was retested. She couldn’t speak publically? This woman did nothing but look for the spotlight. She spoke at meetings, and she did media interviews!
    Her claim regarding her children’s “injuries” include “Failure to maintain appropriate indoor air quality in its Miller-Driscoll School Building.” Well that was proven not to be the case.
    Another claim regarding her children’s “injuries” include chronic nosebleeds and severe congestion which is caused by these building conditions…” There is no proof that they are contributed to that. Your kid could be a chronic nose picker and had the common cold! Why is it that your 2 kids are the only ones who showed these symptoms in the entire school??? You would think this would be a class action suit if it was something that affected all students, and other parents would be right there with you. But they aren’t. You are alone.
    The claim goes on to say that their children suffered loss of consortium with their father, family and schoolmates when they were FORCED, under threat of truancy, to arrange tutoring and social interaction at their own expense. Nobody forced anything upon you! You chose to remove your kids from the environment yourselves!!
    The claim filed does not list any attorney names for the Lowthert’s, which is unfortunate, as I would love to know who back that horse!

    1. I know that when I was in Wilton Schools I had chronic sore throats, and it was later found to be a result of my allergy to wheat and soy. My brother had ear infections, and it also later was tied into food allergies. I’m sure the town’s attorneys will reach out, if they haven’t already, to the plaintiffs and see if these might be other reasons for these ‘reactions’.
       But in the meantime I hope everyone is sincerely pleasant to one another. There is no reason not to be.

       1. When someone keeps throwing claims against the wall to see if eventually one of them will stick, it becomes extremely frustrating for everyone…those accused, those who volunteer, tax payers, etc… Marissa has not been pleasant in her approach to anyone about any of this. When someone sues a city or town based on baseless accusations the residents/tax payers suffer because it eats up resources of our town that can be better spent elsewhere. We can all be pleasant to anyone here as this is just a discussion (and I believe we are), nothing in my comments were unpleasant, they simply point out facts or alternative possibilities. Kids between the ages of K-2 in Miller Driscoll are prone to picking their noses. That fact has more credibility in itself then any of her claims.

11. Good day, fellow Wiltonians.

12. When Ms. Lowthert is given the reports to her satisfaction and her concerns have been alleviated, I highly suggest she venture outside the comforting walls of M-D (where I attended, and in fact spent a year in the basement) and visit some schools in the city – perhaps in North Harlem or the Bronx. Schools that cannot afford to fix greater problems, like mold, overcrowding, lack of books, etc. There are schools that have real problems and believe me they are NOT Wilton. I hope Ms. Lowthert will consider using her power of the pen to help children in much greater need going forward.

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