Salvation Army benefits from settlement of Sunshine Act suit

By KRISTIE LINDEN

klinden@yourmvi.com

The Salvation Army’s Mon Valley Citadel in Monessen will benefit from the settlement of former Mayor Lou Mavrakis’ lawsuit against the current mayor and two councilmen.

In August, Westmoreland County Judge Chris Scherer granted Mavrakis’ request for a default judgment against Mayor Matt Shorraw and councilmen Don Gregor and Gil Coles in his lawsuit alleging they committed Sunshine Act violations in a Jan. 6 reorganization meeting.

On Monday, Scherer approved a settlement that changed the $500 fines levied against each man to one $500 donation to the Salvation Army just in time for Christmas.

Mavrakis’ request for default judgment was granted in August, Scherer said, because the defendants failed to respond to the lawsuit properly — the original attorney didn’t reply at all until after the default judgment was requested, no motions were filed and several other deadlines were missed.

In his judgment, Scherer ruled that all actions taken in the Jan. 6 meeting were null and void and additionally fined Shorraw, Coles and Gregor $500 each.

The defendants’ new attorney, Shane Gannon, filed a motion to reconsider in August, asking Scherer to rethink fining his clients.

In August, Gannon argued that while the default judgment was correct because the defense did not respond properly to the suit, the fines were improper because there were no criminal or summary charges filed against Shorraw, Coles or Gregor that would support giving them a fine.

On Monday morning, Gannon said he was unable to find an example of a mayor and council members who were given criminal penalty fines due to a Sunshine Act case and Scherer said in his research he hadn’t found an example either. Scherer asked why Gannon believed that a fine was a criminal penalty.

Gannon said he was following the phrasing in the law that talks about punishment handed down after the prosecution of a case and that generally is the result of a criminal charge or summary offense.

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