Johnstown Redevelopment Authority hires attorney in federal case over demolished building
Feb. 22—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — The Johnstown Redevelopment Authority hired independent legal counsel to represent the agency in a federal court case in which it is one of three parties accused of improperly tearing down a building as part of a demolition project in the city's Old Conemaugh Borough neighborhood.
Board members Chairman Mark Pasquerilla, Bruce Haselrig, Richard Truscello and Sherri Rae voted during Tuesday's regular monthly meeting to bring aboard the law firm of Spence Custer to handle the matter at a billed rate of $200 per hour.
"This involves the potential for substantial litigation — discovery, setting up depositions, a lot of running paperwork back and forth," JRA Solicitor William Barbin said during the meeting. "This is not something I normally do. This is not something I would say that my skill set's in, the actual performance of full-scale litigation."
Barbin, in an interview afterward, added: "What we're going to do will be decided by Spence Custer with advice and consultation."
Earlier this month, Zipporah Najar, owner of the structure previously located at 103 Adams St., filed a lawsuit against the JRA, the City of Johnstown and G&R Excavating and Demolition, a Tyrone-based contracting company. The defendants were accused of "substantive and procedural due process violations, civil rights violations, trespass, conversion, negligence, and vicarious liability" in a nine-count complaint filed by Najar's attorney in the Johnstown Division of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
The warehouse was demolished in or around February 2022 while the nearby former King Furniture was being torn down by JRA, the city and G&R, as part of a citywide blight elimination effort.
JRA Executive Director Melissa Komar said the structure on 103 Adams St. was not supposed to be part of the demolition.
The authority's invitation to bidders and G&R's invoice, both of which JRA provided to The Tribune-Democrat, list the commercial building to be demolished as being at 111 Adams St, also identified as 79.004.-109.00 on the tax parcel map. The 111 Adams St. parcel was formed from 105, 107 and 109 Adams St. It did not include 103 Adams St.
"We didn't make the mistake," Barbin said.
"I'm not going to go further into litigation, but the Johnstown Redevelopment Authority did not make the mistake in this matter."
City Manager Ethan Imhoff declined comment when the matter first became public due to it being an ongoing legal matter. No representative from G&R has responded to an interview request that was left at the company's office last week.
According to the complaint, Najar used the building to store books, toys and gifts, along with hosting giveaways, as part of the work done by Resource Center for Commission to the Cities, a Christian ministry that she founded.
"Despite having purchased the property at a judicial sale over a year before, and having paid taxes thereon, plaintiff received no notice or warning prior to or subsequent to the demolition of the warehouse," per Najar's complaint.
"Prior to the demolition of the warehouse, defendants failed to serve notice upon plaintiff that the warehouse was to be demolished or that the warehouse was adjacent to other property to be demolished."
Dave Sutor is a reporter for The Tribune- Democrat. Follow him on Twitter @Dave_Sutor.
