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PENNSYLVANIA RECORD

Monday, March 18, 2024

Butler County Airport Authority sues adjacent owners

Law money 05

PITTSBURGH — A municipal airport authority is suing owners of property adjacent to the airport, citing alleged violation of state and federal law.

The Butler County Airport Authority filed a complaint on April 19 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania against Michael Joseph Interthal, Robert James Ashcraft Jr., Cynthia Ashcraft, Jeffrey G. Seruset, Thomas Caseta and the Kushner Family Protector Trust, alleging that they were unwilling to execute the required agreements and still imposed fees for access to the airport.

According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that, in August 2013, the Butler County Airport Authority received notifications from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation with regard to their compliance with the Federal Aviation Administration's TTF ("through the fence") policy for airport access; non-compliance would mean that the airport would not receive federal funding and would be in violation of the federal law. The plaintiff met and negotiated with the defendants, according to the suit, which says that defendants allegedly deliberately refused to cooperate and execute the required agreements. As a result, the airport authority became ineligible to receive allocations, the suit says.

The plaintiff seeks declaratory judgment adjudicating the rights, duties and responsibilities of the parties, a determination that the plaintiff is unable to comply with a 1992 consent order as to the named defendants, and an order declaring that the 1992 consent order is unenforceable as to the named defendants. They are represented by Michael J. Pawk and Rebecca L. Black of Lutz & Pawk in Butler.

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania Case number 2:16-cv-00466-CB

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