Johnson loses latest appeal to save Marblehead home; will try again

MARBLEHEAD – For the second time in six months the Massachusetts Appeals Court has ruled against Wayne Johnson, 73, and told him to tear down his $1.1 million Bubier Road home or face contempt charges.However, Wednesday?s appeals court decision may not be the end of the story.Boston Attorney Charles LeRay, who represents Johnson in a court case that has lasted 15 years, said he plans to meet with his client to discuss options.What options remain? “We can ask the appeals court to reconsider its decision, or have the appeal considered by a larger panel of judges, or ask for a review by the Supreme Judicial Court,” LeRay said.?Wayne was disappointed by the ruling, it was bad news, but we plan to meet and we haven?t made any decision,” LeRay concluded.The Scheys? lawyer, Marblehead Attorney Frank McElroy, said he had just read the decision Friday afternoon. “No surprise,” he said, but he expressed surprise at Johnson?s published reaction to the decision, in which Johnson first said the case was over and later said he would discuss further plans.?They will request further appellate review and orchestrate a strategy to continue this forever,” McElroy said. “He may have to pay for it though.”The latest chapter in the lawsuit filed by Johnson?s neighbors, Dr. John Schey and his wife Ruth, began last August when Land Court Judge Charles Trombly Jr. ordered Johnson to move or raze his home by Oct. 4 or face civil contempt of court charges.Johnson appealed the Land Court decision to the Appeals Court. He claimed that the judge?s decision was “arbitrary,” and a 2000 Marblehead Board of Appeals decision to deny him a variance for his home was also “arbitrary.”In February an Appeals Court judge reviewed the case and denied that appeal, letting the Land Court decision stand.Johnson had filed a second appeal, however, stating that his neighbors, the Scheys, lacked legal standing in the case and their lawsuit should be dismissed. The judges ruled that he failed to show that the Scheys do not have standing.The Schey?s sued Johnson on the grounds that the house he built on a subdivided lot in the 1990s had too small a side yard and the lot was illegal. The 2000 appeals board decision upheld their argument about the illegality of the lot. The Scheys have also continually stated that Johnson?s house blocks their view of the ocean and keeps their home in shadow.McElroy filed a complaint last October asking the Land Court to hold Johnson in contempt of court for not razing or removing his house by the Oct. 4 deadline. So far the court has taken no action.