Mark Oprea
Brooks Jones (center) and Mika Jones (left) in court Thursday. Jones had claimed for the past seven years that his neighbor Paul Schambs' backyard pizza oven was a public nuisance. A jury denied that in their verdict.
After four days of trial at the Cuyahoga Court of Common Pleas, the eight-person jury tasked to decide the fate of a backyard pizza oven in Cleveland Heights agreed unanimously that the smoke "billowing" from it did not constitute a private nuisance.
"Did the defendant, Paul Schambs and/or Mary Lynne Newsome negligently use the woodfired pizza oven on the defendants property?" Judge Shannon Gallagher read to the courtroom, citing the first complaint of a qualified nuisance.
"The answer is no."
Throughout the trial, civil defense attorneys Sam Meadows and Nick Siciliano argued that the opposing side had failed to prove the pizza oven's smoke could be singled out as a problem, as opposed to other grills or smokers.
Their closing arguments toyed with the underlying theme of the trial's absurdity, as whether or not the issue all along was the pizza oven's "noxious" fumes that threatened Brooks and Mika Joneses' wellbeing — or whether a deeper, more personal conundrum was at play.
"I hope that this provides closure for everyone involved, certainly my clients, but also the Joneses," Meadows said after the verdict Thursday afternoon. "This is something that's been going on for almost seven years. I don't see it as winning or losing. I see it as ending something that had gone on for too long."
Meadows, who highlighted the absurdity of even bringing a case over Schambs' oven to trial in his closing argument, drove home the point that the plaintiffs provided no other video evidence that the smoke from other neighbors "was any more unreasonable" than Schambs' pizza maker.
"Was it reasonable for the Joneses to come into this courtroom and tell you that smoke from the pizza oven invades their home, and yet they've shown us not one photo or video of smoke on their property or in their home?" Meadows said in his closing argument. "Was it reasonable for Mika Jones to claim that she is so bothered by smoke and yet sit in the witness stand and admit to us that she regularly uses marijuana? Was it reasonable for the Joneses to suggest that the smoke is so bad it forces them out of their homes, and yet the evidence is that they stick around long enough to take photos and videos?"
Representing the Jones were Lee Chilcote and Christina Tizzano, who leaned into the potential health threats from the Schambs' oven. They elicited testimony earlier this week from Mika Jones as well as Maeve MacMurdo, a doctor at the Cleveland Clinic. MacMurdo had testified that chemicals in the fumes—formaldehyde, namely—could likely be causing Mika's heart palpitations, among other symtoms. Multiple that by 30, the number of times a year Tizzano alleged Schambs had fired up the oven, and that was a legitimate causation.
"Smoke that causes physical symptoms is serious," Tizzano said in her closing arguments. "We leave the house. We don't want to be exposed. We don't want our eyes to burn. We don't want a cough, we don't want to cough mucus."
She added, "What else do you do when you're having smoke in your house? What else do you do when you're having symptoms caused by the smoke that caused you to leave your house?"
By 1 p.m., after Judge Gallagher had effectively told the Schambs that they were free to use the oven, the couple's supporters appeared overwhelmed with emotion. Karen Rolfe, a close friend and supporter of Schambs for the past seven years, teared up outside the courtroom as she embraced Natalie Kalfas and Linda Hatch, Schambs' daughter and sister.
"Just relieved," Rolfe said.
"I actually never felt [the smoke]," Hatch said, recalling family parties where the oven was used. "The wind can't be blowing every time. I just didn't notice anything there."
"Even if they did use it 30 times a year, it's not like every one of those 30 times the smoke was billowing into their house," Kalfas added.
Both the Schambs and the Joneses declined to comment on the verdict after the jury was dismissed.
As for whether residents of Grandview Avenue will stop over to the Schambs for a slice anytime soon?
"Well, I think Paul probably won't start using it for a while," Hatch predicted.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story referred imprecisely to the legal issue at stake. The trial focused on whether the pizza oven was a private nuisance. We regret the error.
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