Couple claims Fayette officials favored neighbors
An attorney for a Dunbar Township couple argued to an appeals court that they showed ample evidence that Fayette County officials refused to investigate their zoning complaints against neighbors out of retaliation.
Last year, a judge in a federal court in Pittsburgh dismissed the suit Terry and Diane Kriss brought against the county, Commissioner Vincent Zapotosky, former commissioner Vincent A. Vicites and Sara Rosiek, the director of the county’s zoning office.
The Krisses, owners of the historic Meason House, off Route 119, sued claiming that county officials had a long history of ignoring zoning complaints made against the Cellurale family, who owns neighboring property, and retaliating against the Krisses. The Cellurales were not named in the suit, however, the Krisses’ attorney, Adam R. Gorzelsky, claimed that the county’s retaliation got worse after the Krisses sued one of the Cellurales in 2009 over an unrelated matter.
When the Krisses next filed a zoning complaint against the family 10 months later, nothing was done, according to the filing.
“Since that time, the Krisses have been stonewalled completely in every attempt to contact officials in the zoning office or to have the complaint investigated,” Gorzelsky wrote.
In asking that the suit be remanded to district court, Gorzelsky alleged that prior relationships with the Cellurales led county officials to favor that family.
“The exhaustive history of inexplicable decisions in favor of the Cellurale family is alleged to be the result of familial relationships and campaign contributions from the Cellurale family to various Fayette County officials who have played a part in deciding the issues of question,” Gorzelsky alleged.
In dismissing the suit, a district court judge found that the claims about ignored zoning complaints are “at best a speculative hunch.”
Gorzelsky argued that he set forth ample allegations “to move the claim out of the territory of mere conjecture and into the realm of plausibility.”
“Simply put, these Fayette County officials may have acted out against the Krisses to protect their friends and campaign contributors, the Cellurale family.”
The initial suit also named the county’s airport authority and a member of the board, however, they were dismissed as defendants in the appeal.