Jeannette company sues Patriot Shield, landlord over hemp odor

A Jeannette packaging company is seeking thousands of dollars in damages after its items were contaminated while being stored in the same warehouse as a hemp drying facility, according to a lawsuit filed in Westmoreland County court.

FC Meyer Packaging claims odor from the hemp facility permeated its storage space at the Thomas Avenue warehouse, contaminating recycled paperboard products, such as pizza boxes.

The suit was filed Tuesday against Patriot Shield Pennsylvania and Herzl Real Estate, which owns the building. Patriot Shield Security Chief Risk Officer Tyler Dickinson and Ben Bakhshi, a partner in Herzl Capital, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Herzl Real Estate is an Israeli-American company that bought the property for nearly $1.5 million in 2017.

FC Meyer leased commercial storage space in December 2018 there, across Thomas Avenue from its manufacturing facility. The space was used to store its products that had been placed on pallets and shrink wrapped prior to shipment to customers, according to the suit.

Patriot Shield Pennsylvania leased space in the warehouse in April to dry hemp from farmers. Odor complaints started pouring into city offices in September and the months after from neighboring residents and FC Meyer, whose storage space wasn’t separated in the building from the hemp drying operation, according to the suit.

“Patriot Shield knew that the drying process would create a strong odor,” the suit states. “In spite of this, Patriot Shield did not inform FC Meyer. Nor did Patriot Shield comply with applicable federal, state and local regulations and standards of care pertaining to exhaust systems, air quality and city zoning.”

Jeannette and the state Department of Environmental Protection ordered the company to cease operations. Patriot Shield did not get an occupancy permit from Jeannette before starting work and violated air quality rules, according to city and state officials. The DEP levied a $29,000 fine and ordered that the company submit plans to the state by Feb. 29 if it wants to resume operations.

Patriot Shield’s attempt to put up a plastic material from floor to ceiling to separate the two spaces was “ineffective,” the suit said. FC Meyer made numerous complaints to both companies and was forced to move its items back to the manufacturing facility to decontaminate them before shipment.

An engineering firm tested air samples and FC Meyer’s paper products and found high concentrations of eight chemicals at the warehouse, which contaminated the items.

FC Meyer is claiming that Patriot Shield and Herzl Real Estate created a private nuisance and the real estate company breached their lease agreement. FC Meyer had to buy decontamination equipment and delay shipments, which resulted in disgruntled customers, according to the suit.

The lawsuit is the latest trouble to befall the controversial hemp facility. In addition to its closure and fines from DEP, the company is accused of not paying its workers and, according to letters received by former employees, the state’s Department of Labor and Industry’s Bureau of Labor Law Compliance, is considering legal action against the company to recover wages not paid to employees.