Sep 23, 2010 By Amy Revak 3 min read

A Pittsburgh company that purchased property in Lower Tyrone Township two years ago has sued Fayette County and the county’s tax claim bureau and director, claiming the company was deceived into thinking a cell phone tower that never existed was located on the property. The company, WRH Realty LLC, filed the lawsuit Wednesday in federal court, and is seeking attorney’s fees and monetary damages in addition to $6,250, which was the amount of the purchase price and deed transfer costs spent by the company for the property.

The lawsuit claims a violation of civil rights of the company, and fraud and negligence on behalf of the county and the tax claim bureau. The company is demanding a jury trial.

The suit states that tax claim bureau director Sarah Thomas was aware that a cell tower that was listed in a legal notice about the property did not exist and the tax sale was held, anyway.

The tax sale for unpaid real estate taxes occurred on Oct. 28, 2008, on various Fayette County properties.

Included in the tax sale was a parcel on which a cell phone tower owned by AMRO Cellular One that has been assessed by the Fayette County Assessment office in 2003 as having an assessed value of $36,180, the lawsuit states.

Although there was a lease in place between AMRO and the former property owner to permit AMRO to construct and operate a cell phone tower on the leased premises, that plan did not come to fruition because “the foundation was improperly constructed and AMRO abandoned its plan to construct a cell phone tower,” the lawsuit states.

“Because the lease was cancelled, the cell phone tower was never constructed, so there was nothing to assess. Nevertheless, the defendant, Fayette County, purported to assess this non-existent cell phone tower in 2003, and imposed real estate taxes each year thereafter,” according to the lawsuit.

When WRH Realty’s agent examined the real estate records in the county recorder’s office and the assessment records in the county assessor’s office, the agent believed the cell tower existed.

“WRH relied on the records and representations of the defendant tax claim bureau to its detriment, and purchased the cell phone tower,” the suit states.

The suit, filed by counsel of record Robert O. Lampl, James A. Ashton and James R. Cooney of Pittsburgh, states that a few days after the tax sale was advertised, and weeks before the actual tax sale, a member of the Carl G. Gardner family called the tax claim bureau director and informed her that there was no cell phone tower on the tax parcel, and that the assessment was a mistake.

“Notwithstanding their possession of this information, the defendants went ahead with the tax sale to WRH,” the suit states.

The suit said that the company “believes that the conduct of the defendants was willful, intentional, malicious and egregious, thus entitling WRH to an award of punitive damages,” the suit states.

The company has been seeking to get its money returned but the county has refused, the suit claims.