Property Reassessment

August 18, 2008

Reassessment suit? Lawyer sees potential

Stretton served as solicitor for county controller and prothonotary offices.

By Steve Mocarsky smocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
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Michelle Boice hopes a class-action lawsuit can be filed to compensate property owners aggrieved by the county’s reassessment, and at least one attorney familiar with Luzerne County governmental workings thinks there could be a case.

Boice, of Harveys Lake, said lakefront properties in her borough were the only such properties in the county to be valued partially based on their view of the sunset.

And because so many Harveys Lake properties were overvalued by such high amounts, Boice believes there is enough evidence to have borough homeowners certified as a class for a class-action discrimination lawsuit related to reassessment.

But she would rather see a countywide lawsuit because, since she went public with her story of 21st Century refusing to correct some of her property description errors at an informal review, she has received numerous calls from people throughout the county with similar complaints.

Sam Stretton, a lawyer from West Chester, agrees that a discrimination lawsuit is probably warranted. He said he sees the opportunity to make “a global attack on reassessment because it was done so badly.”

“It seems there are serious irregularities, and all the values should be thrown out. … People have called me to look into it. They know me because of my involvement with Steve Flood and Carolee Medico,” Stretton said.

Stretton took on the county commissioners previously when he served as solicitor for the county controller and prothonotary offices under Flood and Medico, respectively.

Most notably, he lambasted county officials and a judge in 2005 for stalling Flood’s investigation into an agreement that locked the county into a 20-year, $58 million lease with PA Child Care that had been criticized by state auditors.

PA Child Care runs a juvenile detention center in Pittston Township that was owned by the politically connected Hazleton attorney Robert Powell and Gregory Zappala, the son of a retired Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice. Powell has since sold his interest in the business.

Flood tried to subpoena several officials that year, including then-Luzerne County Majority Commissioners Todd Vonderheid and Greg Skrepenak. His subpoenas were put on hold by Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael Toole.

“Because I think there’s something wrong (with the county’s reassessment process), I am willing to take it on. I have a healthy skepticism about what your political leaders do there,” Stretton said.

Stretton said the potential for one or more federal civil rights lawsuits exists if the Constitutional rights of property owners were violated.

Steve Mocarsky, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 459-2005.

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