A breach in North Haven. Fasano withdraws from Cicarella nightmare neighbor case. “Attorney-client relationship has broken down irretrievably.”
State Senator Paul Cicarella continues to make the wrong kind of news. The second term Republican appears to have fallen out with his benefactor, Cicarella’s popular predecessor, Len Fasano. In a motion in a case centered around Cicarella’s 2022 construction of significant improvements at his North Haven home, including the installation of an in-ground pool, Fasano asked the court to allow him to withdraw from representing Cicarella because their “attorney-client relationship has broken down irretrievable.”
According to a complaint filed in Superior Court last year, Cicarella’s aggrieved neighbor, Andrew Koutroumanis, told Cicarella that his construction project was encroaching on Koutroumanis’ property. Cicarella refused to halt construction when Koutroumanis commissioned and produced at A-2 survey confirming the trespass and encroachment.
Koutroumanis accuses Cicarella of submitting inaccurate, false and misleading information to North Haven building officials. Koutroumanis paints a compelling character portrait of Cicarella as a nightmare neighbor. The Superior Court docket indicates the case has been settled but the settlement is not included. Daily Ructions, however, has learned that the settlement included Cicarella agreeing to pay his neighbor $40,000 and to remove the various encroachments Cicarelli placed on his neighbor’s property. Koutroumanis agreed to consent to a variance Cicarella needs for the addition to his house to remain.
The settlement appears to confirm that despite being asked not to proceed and being shown an A-2 survey that confirmed Cicarella was building an in-ground pool on property he did not own, the Republican nevertheless proceeded.
That was not the end of the matter. Cicarella, who has a taste for litigation, has filed claims against the pool company, surveyor, construction company, business that provide the propane tank and title insurance company. It does seem all of this could have been avoided if Cicarella had listened to his neighbor.
Mr. Koutroumanis alleges that Cicarella submitted false documents to local zoning officials. That is a serious allegation that may interest voters in the five towns that comprise the 34th District. Cicarella ought to come clean and explain how he managed to make his neighbor’s life miserable after being confronted with a survey that turns out to have been correct.
The dispute may not be confined to North Haven. The construction company Cicarella is suing, Donmar Development Corporation, is owned by the DiGioia family, also popular members of the community. Michael DiGioia is a maximum contributor to state Senator Heather Somers’ political action committee, Somers PAC. DiGioia gave Somers $1,000 last October. That contribution came two months after the groundbreaking for Triton Square, a new apartment community in Groton, the heart of Republican Somers’ district. The apartments are being built on the grounds of the former William Seeley School.
Published July 18, 2024.