Court to settle family and water authority dispute
By PAT FRIDGEN Echo Pilot

A legal battle for rights to a water line in Antrim Township could be settled soon. Lisa J. Sankbeil is carrying the torch for her father, Jack A. Lanehart, who died before his lawsuit against two water authorities could be judged.

Lanehart filed a complaint against Greencastle, Franklin County, Authority and Greencastle Area, Franklin County, Water Authority on Sept. 1, 2005. He died in June 2006.

He sought a declaratory judgment against GAFCWA and its governing body GFCA. He alleged the Water Authority permitted a developer in Antrim Township to connect without permission to a water line he constructed on Colonial Drive. He asked the court to award damages for the Authority's unjust enrichment and to terminate the line.

The defendants objected, Lanehart responded, the defendants responded to his objections and both sides submitted briefs in support of their positions in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. After Lanehart died of a stroke, his daughter, as executrix of the estate, volunteered to step in as plaintiff.

"I was the closest to dad on business matters," said Sankbeil from her La- Grange, Ga. home. She has three siblings and her mother Roberta continues to live in Greencastle.

A summary judgment is scheduled for tomorrow. If an agreement is not reached in front of Judge Richard Walsh, the case goes to court March 27 and 28.

"I'm always optimistic, hoping they'll settle," Sankbeil said.

What happened

According to papers filed in court, Lanehart constructed the water line for Green-Way Development on Colonial Drive in 1975. The line was to provide municipal water to 16.927 acres being developed by his company. On June 22, 2002 the Water Authority allowed a developer to connect to the line to serve 44 homes in the Greens of Greencastle Phase IV subdivision on Shannon Drive, which was outside Green-Way and in Antrim Township.

Sankbeil's attorney, Thomas Finucane from Finucane Law Office in Chambersburg, asked Judge Walsh to deny the defendants' February motion for summary judgment. In a brief dated March 12 he said the 44 homes, assuming minimum quarterly water rates, result in a revenue stream of $11,547.36 for water use and that the Water Authority

received $157,175 in tap fees.

"We do not ask to be paid the actual tapping fee paid by consumers," he wrote. "We ask for compensation for the use by the Water Authority of the water line. The Authority pays for paper it uses, equipment it owns, and rental of items used to benefit its water customers. It's unconscionable for the Water Authority to receive the benefit without reasonable payment."

The complaint first filed in August 2005 asked for five percent of the tap fees and five percent of the water revenue since the connection was made in 2002. A demand letter to J. Dennis Guyer, solicitor for the Water Authority, asked for $165,000 for the 1100 feet of water line. If that was acceptable Lanehart would dedicate the line to the borough.

Finucane submitted a July 2005 quit claim deed from Frank Plessinger to Lanehart conveying interest in the land on which the streets were located 'including but not limited to any water lines under the street.' Finucane stated no dedication of the water line had ever been given to the Authority nor was required in the 1975 agreement concerning its construction.

In November 2006 Walsh overruled the Water Authority's contention that Lanehart did not have sufficient grounds for the suit, that he did not have a substantial interest in the matter and that the Authority's customers should also have been included in the lawsuit.

A year later he again ruled in favor of the Lanehart family after reviewing preliminary objections.

Finucane and Steven Hann, a Lansdale attorney representing the Water Authority, will present their arguments to Judge Walsh March 20. Jan Sulcove is currently solicitor for the Authority and did not return a call for comment. Current Authority members are Stephen Rock, Robert Miller, Craig Myers, John Rudy and Thomas Green.

"My father was never mandated to dedicate the water line back to the borough. I'm praying the judge rules in our favor," Sankbeil concluded.