NHCaseLaw.com

This matter arises out of an alleged phone-jamming scheme during the November 2002 election. The background of this matter has been summarized in earlier orders. Therefore, the Court proceeds directly to the merits of the pending motions to dismiss, regarding which a hearing was held on April 11, 2006.

This is a civil action for damages for sexual abuse committed against the plaintiff by Brother Beaulieu, a member of the Order of the Sacred Heart, a former teacher at Bishop Guertin High School, and a former staff employee at Camp Fatima. The plaintiff alleges he was sexually abused and molested by Beaulieu between 1972 and 1975 while a camper at Camp Fatima and a student at Bishop Guertin High School. The alleged abuse ended in the fall of 1975 during the plaintiffs junior year at Bishop Guertin when Beaulieu attempted to force the plaintiff to perform fellatio. After the forcible assault, the plaintiff left school and never returned.

This action for civil conspiracy and violation of the Consumer Protection Act, RSA 358-A, was commenced in February 2001. The plaintiffs are three creditors of the defendants Reginald Gaudette, his wife Louise Gaudette (hereinafter the Gaudettes), and/or various corporations, partnerships or other entities which the Gaudettes controlled. The remaining defendants are Jeffrey Gaudette and Lisa Robinson, son and daughter of the Gaudettes; Edith and Lionel Gaudette, mother and father of Reginald; Thomas J. Thomas, Jr., Esq., Marc L. Van De Water, Esq. and Glenn C. Raiche, Esq. (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “the lawyer defendants”), attorneys who provided legal services to the Gaudettes or entities which they controlled; and Mark Ring, a certified public accountant (CPA) who provided accounting services for the Gaudettes or related entities. Plaintiffs’ amended bill in equity alleges that the defendants engaged in a scheme to defraud the plaintiffs, in their capacity as creditors of the Gaudettes or entities controlled by them, from collecting on their claims or judgments by sheltering or concealing assets of the debtors through a series of fraudulent transfers and the creation of various “shell” entities. Because most if not all of the allegedly fraudulent activities of the defendants occurred in connection with proceedings before the United States Bankruptcy Court involving, first, R & R Associates (a partnership in which Reginald Gaudette was a partner) and, later, Gaudette himself as debtors, the lawyer defendants now move to dismiss this case on the grounds that plaintiffs’ claims are preempted by federal bankruptcy law. I conclude that the lawyer defendants’ position is correct and that their motion must be granted.