Legal Briefs: News From Around NH

Jennifer Eber

Disability Rights Center names new litigation director

The Disability Rights Center – NH has announced that Jennifer Eber is its new litigation director, leading DRC-NH’s efforts to protect and expand the civil rights of people with disabilities. Eber joined the Disability Rights Center-NH in 2021 after 30 years as an attorney at Orr & Reno, where she served clients in litigated matters and counseled them on employment-related issues. She currently serves as chair of the NH Bar Association’s Law Related Education Committee and has been instrumental in the publication and distribution of Beyond High School: A Guide to Your Rights and Responsibilities. Ms. Eber is also co-chair of the Governor’s Commission on the Humane Treatment of Animals.

Securities bureau files action against Mass. medical products firm

The Secretary of State’s Bureau of Securities Regulation has started an action against Massachusetts-based Advent Medical Products Inc., and its majority owner, Randall Fincke of Lincoln, Mass., for alleged investor fraud and for selling unregistered securities.

Fincke is Advent’s chief engineer, president, treasurer, secretary, CEO, chief financial officer and director. Before forming Advent, the bureau said, he was found liable for stealing trade secrets and for committing investor fraud in Massachusetts at two separate companies unrelated to Advent. The Bureau alleges that Fincke committed investor fraud in New Hampshire by failing to inform New Hampshire investors of these actions when he offered them securities in Advent.

The bureau alleges that since at least 2011 Fincke has continuously misled New Hampshire investors and potential investors by claiming Advent’s automated external defibrillators would be available for purchase soon. Advent has never brought any of these products to market. At least one New Hampshire investor relied on these statements when he purchased Advent securities.

NH House approves $1m for pretrial tracking system

New Hampshire lawmakers are setting aside $1 million in the state budget to track pretrial releases of criminal offenders under the state’s bail system, which is intended to inform police when someone they have arrested is already out on bail.

The goal is to address the repeat releases of offenders, some dangerous and violent, that critics say have plagued New Hampshire’s bail reform law. Passed in 2018, the law made it easier to avoid jail after arrest.

Law enforcement officials said they expect the data eventually gathered will show exactly what they have been telling lawmakers all along, that bail reform diminishes accountability for criminals and puts public safety at risk.

SIG Sauer facing new lawsuit involving P320 pistol

Firearms manufacturer SIG Sauer is facing yet another lawsuit brought by 20 people — including federal agents, police and civilians — who say they were injured when the company’s model P320 pistols fired without a trigger pull.

The suit is the latest in a series of legal complaints filed against the company, each claiming the pistol has a design flaw that leads to unintentional discharges of the firearm, occasionally while holstered. Plaintiffs are calling for the gunmaker to make safety design changes.

SIG Sauer has steadfastly denied the claims. The company is known for producing weapons for the military and law enforcement.

The Union Leader reported that the new suit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Concord by attorneys with a Philadelphia-based law firm It alleges the P320 is “the most dangerous pistol sold in the United States market.”

In a written statement, SIG Sauer responded to the latest lawsuit by reiterating its stance that the “P320 is designed to fire when the trigger is pulled.”

Scott Harris

McLane Middleton names company award winners

Scott H. Harris, a director in the firm’s Litigation Department, has won the 18th annual Jack B. Middleton Pro Bono Legal Services Award for his commitment to providing legal counsel to those who need but cannot afford that counsel.

Joanne Bressi, the receptionist at the firm’s Woburn, Mass., office, was the recipient of the firm’s annual John A. Graf Client Service Award, awarded to an individual ‘who has relentlessly focused on solving his clients’ problems.’ And Brittany Piet, a paralegal in the firm’s Trusts & Estates Department, has won the John R. McLane Jr. Community Service Award, which goes to the colleague who exemplifies the highest commitment to the community based on colleague observations and peer reviews.