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By Jerry Lynott jlynott@timesleader.com
Business Writer
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A Luzerne County judge in 2004 ruled in favor of attorney Robert Powell in a dispute regarding the docking of his yacht at a marina at the Florida condominium connected to judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan.

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A Florida attorney in 2004 raised the issue of why a Luzerne County judge was presiding over a lawsuit involving attorney Robert Powell’s lease of boat slip at the Jupiter Yacht Club’s marina where a company connected to judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan owned a condominium.

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Robert J. Powell speaks during a Jan. 31, 2007 press conference announcing a new cargo airport project near Hazleton.

Don Carey file photo/The Times Leader

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The Oct. 21, 2004 ruling by Judge Michael Toole allowed Powell to continue to dock the 56-foot “Reel Justice” despite the protest of the attorney for the Jupiter Yacht Club Marina Condominium Association that the case should have been handled in Florida.

The case was dissolved two months later at the request of Powell, his wife Debra and boat captain Robert Arrington when the yacht was moved out of the marina.

The court documents raise more questions of Powell’s dealings with Ciavarella and Conahan, who face federal charges in an ongoing public corruption probe centered on $2.6 million of kickbacks and the juvenile detention center once owned by Powell, a Drums attorney.

Ciavarella and Conahan have controlling interests in Pinnacle Group of Jupiter LLC, the owner of unit 303 in the Mariner at the Jupiter Yacht Club condominium, according to federal authorities. The judges tried to hide at least $370,000 from the kickback scheme as payments to Pinnacle for condominium rent and lease expenses and slip rental fees.

The two judges have signed plea agreements and will be arraigned on Feb. 12 in U.S. Middle District Court, Scranton.

Powell has not been named in the criminal information that explains the kickback scheme. But the company he once co-owned, PA Child Care LLC, figures prominently in the case federal authorities built against the judges. Details in the criminal information indirectly identify Powell as a participant.

A message left with Powell and attorney Stephen Seach, a member of Powell’s law firm who filed the 2004 complaint, was not returned Wednesday.

Attorney Helio De La Torre, one of the attorneys who represented the Jupiter Yacht Club and Condominium Association, did not return a message left at his Broward, Fla., office.

The association notified Powell in an Aug. 18, 2004, letter that it would not renew his lease from Gary Kuskin for Slip 50 for violations of the marina’s rules and regulations. The letter did not state the violations. Kuskin and association members could not be reached for comment.

In an Oct. 20, 2004 letter to Toole, an attorney for the association questioned why the case was being litigated in Pennsylvania, saying “The association is a Florida corporation and the issues involved in the lawsuit are entirely Florida matters.”

The attorney also asked for more time, saying he was given a day’s notice of the Oct. 21 hearing on the matter in Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas by Powell’s attorney.

Toole recalled he was the motions court judge who set the hearing date and held the hearing, adding no one from the Jupiter Yacht Club appeared. He said the court on its own “could raise the issue of jurisdiction” but no one contested it. He then ruled on the matter before him but did not grant the full relief sought by Powell.

The order directed the marina to stop interfering with the renewal of Slip 50’s rental and called for a full hearing on the issue. But no hearing was held because on Dec. 14, 2004, Toole dissolved his earlier order at the request of Powell’s attorney. Three days later the case was discontinued.

Jerry Lynott, a Times Leader staff writer, can be contacted at 570 829-7237.