Legal News

Mediator Appointed in Family Court Bankruptcy Case

By Brian Harris

The chief judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has been assigned to mediate the lawsuit between the Philadelphia Parking Authority and private developer Donald W. Pulver's Northwest 15th Street Associates over the ownership of the air rights at the proposed Philadelphia family courthouse site, according to an order issued today by Judge Eric L. Frank.

Stephen Raslavich is the chief judge who is expected to act as mediator in the case.

The order also authorizes the First Judicial District to participate in the mediation.

The lawsuit was removed to bankruptcy court after Northwest's June 23 Chapter 11 filing. Northwest had mortgaged the air rights to the site at 15th and Arch Streets in Philadelphia from the parking authority in exchange for building a parking garage below ground for the parking authority and building a courthouse aboveground.

But the parking authority and the court system are trying to move forward with the project being developed by the state Department of General Services instead of Pulver.

The original structure of the courthouse deal unraveled in the wake of the revelation that the court's former tenant representative, Jeffrey B. Rotwitt, also struck a co-development deal with Pulver.

Full post as published by The Legal Intelligencer Blog on September 01, 2010 (boomark / email).