No end in sight for tribal housing lawsuit

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PLEASANT POINT – Pamela Francis, the former director of the Pleasant Point Passamaquoddy Housing Authority, has filed suit against her successor at the housing authority, claiming that Colleen Dana-Cummings authorized illegal entry into her house and the removal of her personal belongings.

The lawsuit was filed in Washington County Superior Court earlier this year.

Francis also filed suit in Pleasant Point Tribal Court against her former employer.

Last month, Dana-Cummings filed her response to the Superior Court action and denied any wrongdoing.

The housing authority answered the tribal court action and denied any wrongdoing. It also filed a counterclaim alleging that Francis had no right to occupy the house.

On Friday, Francis’ attorney, Curtis Webber of Auburn, said he had filed a response to the counterclaim and asked the tribal court to dismiss it.

The housing authority’s attorney did not return a telephone call Friday.

Dana-Cumming’s attorney, Norman Toffolon of Machias, said he did not know when the matters would go to trial.

Francis, who now resides in Old Orchard Beach, claims in her lawsuit that on Feb 24, 1998, Dana-Cummings directed authority employees to forcibly enter Francis’ residence, remove the furnishings, change the locks and place a sign on the door stating that the residence was the property of the authority.

The incident stemmed from a dispute over a house Francis lived in on the reservation that is known locally as “The Mansion.” The house is located on a hill with panoramic views of Passamaquoddy Bay.

Francis claims ownership in the house as the designated successor in interest of her father, Edward Bassett Sr., now deceased. She and the housing authority have been at odds since her firing in November 1996.

The authority uses money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to build and improve single-family and multifamily housing for members of the Passamaquoddy Tribe.

The $200,000 HUD house Francis occupied was one of the issues that led to her dismissal. When she moved to southern Maine, authority officials claimed that she had abandoned the house. But Francis claims in her affidavit that Dana-Cummings was aware that the house had not been abandoned.

“While the break-in was in progress, Ralph Dana [a friend of Francis’] who was occupying the residence with her consent, and acting as caretaker, contacted [Dana-Cummings] to ask under what authority the break-in was being carried out and to request her to stop it,” the complaint said.

Although Dana-Cummings admitted that she had no authority, the affidavit said, she refused to instruct her employees to leave the property and insisted that Dana leave the premises so the housing authority could take possession. When Francis learned of the break-in, the court papers said, she left work and drove from Old Orchard to Pleasant Point to deal with the situation.

In the lawsuit, Francis has requested compensation for damage to her property, loss of income, and compensation for the emotional distress she experienced.

In her answer, Dana-Cummings denies any wrongdoing and asks the judge to dismiss all counts and to award her costs and attorney’s fees.

Francis also filed a lawsuit in tribal court against her former employer over the same incident.

In its counterclaim, the housing authority alleges that Francis prepared the occupancy agreement for her father while she was director of the housing authority, even though she knew that authority policy requires that a minimum of four people live in a house that size.

The authority claims that Bassett was ineligible to be a homebuyer because he was a single individual at the time the agreement was signed.

If Bassett had been eligible, his monthly payment would have been $527. Under the agreement, Bassett’s monthly payment “was set initially at $61 with a rent ‘ceiling’ of $133,” the counterclaim said.

The housing authority claims that the agreement with Francis’ father was null and void because it was in violation of applicable HUD regulations and housing authority policies.

Before September 1995, Francis moved into the house without permission from the housing authority. According to the counterclaim, she failed to provide evidence to show that she was financially eligible to occupy the house.

The housing authority claims that Francis’ father failed to designate a successor in the event of his death. He died in September 1995. The authority claims that three years later, Francis was found to be ineligible to qualify as a designated successor of her father.

The housing authority also claims that since 1995, the house has not been Francis’ primary residence. It also claims that without permission of the authority, Francis made significant changes to the house including a new spiral staircase and the addition of a living room, master bedroom and two-car garage.

The housing authority has asked the tribal court to prevent Francis from occupying, renting or selling the house. It claims that when Bassett died the house reverted back to the housing authority.

In the response to the counterclaim, Francis claims the house is her primary residence at Pleasant Point, and that she and her family moved into the residence with the tacit approval of the housing authority’s commissioners.

Although she admits that she did not receive the authority’s prior approval for the structural changes to the house, “members of the housing authority board of commissioners were fully aware of the structural changes she was making.”

Since she was fired, Francis has filed several other civil suits against the housing authority, and in October 2001, a judge upheld a $125,000 settlement that was reached in the breach of contract lawsuit she filed against the housing authority.