The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

May 11, 2008

Stacey settles with former attorney

By Joe Pinchot

HERMITAGE — Raymond Stacey has reached a settlement with a former family attorney, ending the legal malpractice claims in his long-running lawsuit over the demolition of his parents’ house in Hermitage.

The action removes Jerry G. Cartwright Jr., Ellwood City, from the suit. Earlier, U.S. District Court Judge Terrence F. McVerry, Pittsburgh, dismissed attorney Christopher Ferry and his firm, Watts & Pepicelli, Meadville.

Stacey had tried to wrap the attorneys into a conspiracy theory that they contributed to the November 2000 demolition of the Stacey family home at 1560 E. State St.

The action leaves in the lawsuit the city of Hermitage; City Manager Gary P. Hinkson; city building inspectors Russell V. Penn Jr. and Jeffrey Osborne; Fire Chief Robert S. Goeltz; former Commissioner Pat White; solicitor Thomas W. Kuster; former deputy solicitor H. William White; and Richard Sereday, Roseann Sereday and Sereday Excavating, Masury.

In a recent report to the judge, attorneys for all sides stated these are the allegations that remain:

• The defendants seized and destroyed the home without a court order.

• The defendants seized and destroyed family personal property without a hearing or court order.

• The defendants denied the Staceys’ meaningful access to the courts.

• The city improperly imposed a lien on the property for the costs of the demolition, which has “clouded” the title.

The sides have discussed settlement with no success, and differ over whether an alternative resolution process might help. Stacey said he is open to trying early neutral evaluation.

The schedule proposed by the parties indicates a trial is not likely before 2009.

Stacey, taking over for his mother as the executor of her will, has been protesting the city of Hermitage’s decision to demolish his parents’ home. The city deemed the house uninhabitable and unsafe in 1997. Helen Stacey lost appeals through Mercer County and state courts.

The case has been in the federal system since 2002, when Mrs. Stacey charged the house was not in imminent danger of collapse, and there were potential buyers interested in making repairs.

The defendants have denied the suit’s allegations.

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