Nessa Coppinger is a lawyer who does many cases of protecting corporations who are being sued in the case of producing toxic pollution. She is now suing her neighbor for smoking in the privacy of his own home.
Coppinger defends corporations being pursued for causing harm to the environment. An example of her In a report found by?Republic Report?Coppinger defended?Suncoke Energy, Inc., whose operations have allegedly produced:
?sludge-like deposits, strong odors, particulates, lead, mercury, arsenic, chromium, creosote, coal tar pitch, coal tar pitch volatiles…”
Coppinger (38) and her husband (also a lawyer) are suing their Washington D.C. neighbor Edward Gray because smoke from his cigarettes and marijuana was filtering into the Coppinger home. In a statement to ?The Washington Post, Coppinger shared that her neighbor’s smoking is a “health concern” for their family. She commented further:
“We don’t smoke… We don’t allow smoking in our home.”
An inspection executed on Gray’s home found a crack in his chimney that had been allowing smoke to enter into the Coppinger home. The couple wants to be compensated a total of $500,000 from Mr. Gray and his sister (who owns the property) for the following: negligence, nuisance and?trespassing, saying that?the smoke had?intruded?onto their property.?They have already been successful in securing an order banning Gray from smoking in his home.
Gray, who lives on disability checks, told?The Washington Post?that he’s “a nervous wreck.” He continued his statement about Mrs. Coppinger’s actions:
?I’m a grown man. They passed a law that says you can smoke marijuana in my house. I can’t do anything now. What if I’m in here frying chicken and they complain they smell smoke? She going to send the marshals to come get me?”
Personally, I do not see myself being a man of hypocrisy – though it is a feature we all amass to, I dislike it. When I first discovered the news of Mrs. Coppinger, I believed she was full of hypocrisy, but I like to look at things with a fair sight. I believe that as a parent and home owner, yes, she has the right to be mad and assume action for smoke (a substance to be in her house by her rule) infiltrating her home because of her neighbor’s activities. However, I believe that on the same side, a law suit for $500,000 is outrageous. If I was a parent worried for smoke harming my child, I’d be mad – but I would certainly not try to drain $500,000 from a man on disability.
What are your thoughts and feelings on Coppinger’s actions? Do you agree with her or Mr. Gray? Leave a comment below with your thoughts on the situation.
