Judge dismisses suit filed by Dunbar couple
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a couple who claimed various Fayette County officials waged a campaign to devalue their home, ignored zoning regulations and stifled their First Amendment rights.
In January, Terry and Diane Kriss, owners of the historic Meason House on Route 119 in Dunbar Township, filed suit against Commissioners Vincent A. Vicites and Vincent Zapotosky, zoning office director Sara Rosiek, the Fayette County Airport Authority and the authority’s chairman, Terry Shallenberger. Commissioner Angela M. Zimmerlink was not named as a defendant in the suit.
The suit made various allegations, including a claim that county officials waged a campaign to devalue their home, and Shallenberger wrongly evicted them from a hangar at the airport and allowed a former airport employee to level allegations against Terry Kriss during a public meeting.
As part of their lawsuit, the Krisses included allegations that date to 1995. Those 16-year-old allegations showed a pattern of improper treatment by the county, according to the lawsuit.
However, U.S. District Judge David S. Cercone found that many claims were moot because they occurred beyond the two-year statute of limitations for filing civil claims.
Attorneys for the Krisses had argued that the allegations of things that occurred as far back as 1995 brought up to show that the county had a long history of violating the couple’s rights, but the judge rejected that argument.
For more information, read Sunday’s HeraldStandard.com.