News

July 3, 2008

ATV park owner sues airport developers

Suit claims landowners conspired to close park to make way for cargo airport.

Times Leader staff

WILKES-BARRE – Overland Enterprises, Inc., which operated an ATV park on land that is being eyed for a cargo airport, has filed a lawsuit against the owner of the land.

Overland, operator of Paragon Adventure Park, claims PCA Corp. and Gladstone Partners LLC conspired to close the park to make way for the proposed cargo airport in the Hazleton area.

According to court papers, Overland entered into a 25-year lease for land owned by PCA Corp. and Gladstone Partners, LLC, in February 2004, for the establishment of the park. In June 2006, an eviction action was filed by Gladstone, based upon allegations that the park owner failed to make rental payments, to maintain insurance, and to adequately maintain the property.

Overland attorney James Scallion said in the lawsuit that PCA Corp. and owner Phillip Seltzer encouraged Gladstone to file an eviction, and “conspired to deprive (Overland Enterprises) of its ability to conduct business and, as a result, (Overland Enterprises) has been denied the ability not only to conduct current and ongoing operations…”

The lawsuit claims Overland has been denied future business opportunities because of its current and previous economic hardship.

Gladstone plans to build a multi-million-dollar cargo airport on the land where the park operated.

The lawsuit filed on Friday states the claims made against Overland were false, and that actions of Gladstone and Seltzer were done “with malice and without cause or reason to believe that the information conveyed had any basis in truth.”

According to records, Overland utilized more than 2,000 acres of the 4,300-acre property in Hazle Township’s Humboldt Industrial Park, and is requesting damages totaling $50,000 from each of the seven defendants listed in the lawsuit: PCA Corp., Gladstone Partners LLC, the estate of the company’s former chief executive officer Philip Seltzer; A.J. Land of Hazleton; Gordon Katz, Reid Block and John MacKay Jr. of Fort Washington.

A Gladstone spokeswoman declined comment on the lawsuit.

Representatives of Overland Enterprises could not be reached for comment.

In June, a state appellate court upheld the eviction notice, stating the park failed to file a timely appeal to a 2006 ruling that granted possession of the land to Gladstone Partners.

Gladstone, owned at the time by Pittsburgh area attorney Gregory Zappala, former Hazleton Mayor Michael Marsicano and Butler Township attorney Robert Powell, was initially granted possession of the land by District Judge Thomas Sharkey on Aug. 4, 2006.

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