Lawsuit over stone removal nets Mt. Pleasant man $5,000

The Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County was ordered to pay $5,000 in damages to a Mt. Pleasant man who claimed the utility removed as much as $700,000 in slate and shale from his property during a water line extension project a decade ago.

A jury heard two days of evidence during a trial this month as part of an eminent domain case that had languished in the court system since 2011. Jurors ultimately ruled in favor of Ray Alincic in his case against the authority — but awarded him just a fraction of what he sought for his property.

The authority thought it was the township’s property, said authority manager Michael Kukura.

“We were in the wrong there,” he said.

For Alincic, the case was about more than just liability. Alincic claimed valuable stone and shale deposits lay under his property that served as a 610-foot bed used by horse-drawn carts and later rail cars that moved coal mined on the family property to the Boyer Coke Works.

That bed was located under a road now named Cannonball Court, according to the lawsuit.

In court documents, Alincic estimated there was 2,338.5 tons of slate and shale valued at $700,000 on the property before the authority undertook the water line project.

His attorney, Brian Aston, said Alincic testified at trial the stone was worth at least $250,000.

“He didn’t know they were going to take the stone when they put in the lines,” Aston said.

The authority denied removing any stone, according the utility’s solicitor Scott Avolio. Legal documents submitted by the authority as part of its defense indicated the utility hired several experts who conducted tests of the 60-acre Alincic property, including the area around Cannonball Court, and determined shale or slate was never used to form roadway to transport coal.

The jury ultimately ruled the value Alincic’s land taken by the authority for the water line extension project was worth $5,000 and in line with what a board of viewers, appointed by the court, determined in 2018 after hearing evidence in the case.

“He was due just compensation and nobody needs to take advantage of the authority,” Kukura said.

Another lawsuit Alincic filed in 2007 against Mt. Pleasant Township over installation of a sewer project is still pending. According to court records, Alincic claims he is owned up to $325,000 to pay for damages to his property that the project caused. A separate board of viewers awarded Alincic $45,000 in damages.