Seacoast Wins Court Case on Noise...

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Seacoast Motorcycles has won a round in a legal battle over a noise ordinance in North Hampton, N.H.
A federal court has declined to hear the dispute, sent the case back to Rockingham County Superior Court and ordered opponents to pay the dealership's legal fees.

New Castle resident and New Hampshire Citizens Against Loud Motorcycles (NH CALM) founder Bill Mitchell sought to have the case moved to U.S. Circuit Court, contending it involves a federal statute.
In an order dated Feb. 4, U. S. District Court Judge Landya McCafferty ruled that NH CALM didn’t have the standing to move a case between the dealership and the city.
“Without formally analyzing the issue, the court observes that NH CALM's claim for federal-question jurisdiction appears to be exceptionally weak,” the judge wrote.
She also ordered NH CALM to pay Seacoast Motorcycles' attorneys fees in an amount to be determined within 20 days, according to the Portsmouth Herald.

In the underlying case, Seacoast Motorcycles sued North Hampton over the city's ordinance regulating motorcycle decibel levels. The ordinance requires a federal Environmental Protection Agency sticker on all motorcycles manufactured after 1982, which indicates decibel levels don't exceed 80. Seacoast argues that the state’s less-restrictive 106-decibel requirement should prevail.
Posted by Holly Wagner