Penn. Service Sues Over Contract Loss

July 19--The Sewickley Township supervisors' supposedly amicable parting with Jeannette EMS Inc. last month ended abruptly when the ambulance service sued Sewickley this week for $163,000, claiming the supervisors breached a contract when they canceled their agreement.

Jeannette EMS stated in the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Westmoreland County Court that it lost an estimated $163,240 in net income when the township supervisors on June 7 canceled the April 4 service agreement with Jeannette EMS. The estimated loss is based on revenue generated by 1,500 calls a year and $30,000 in subscriptions from residents.

Sewickley Township "breached its obligation without justification or excuse," the six-page suit said.

Michael Cafasso, Jeannette EMS chief executive, declined Wednesday to comment on the lawsuit.

Township supervisors Wanda Layman, Alan K. Fossi and Joseph Kerber declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying the matter would be handled by solicitor Daniel Hewitt.

Layman and Fossi had voted in April to designate Jeannette EMS as the township's official ambulance service because of concerns that the financial problems facing the Sewickley Township Community Ambulance Service, including $200,000 in debt, might prevent it from handling emergency duties.

It was Fossi who said in June that he believed the township had "parted amicably" with Jeannette EMS.

"This caught me totally by surprise," Fossi said.

Layman also was surprised by the lawsuit.

"They told us they would step away," Layman said.

Kerber had opposed the move to switch from the Community Ambulance Service to Jeannette, and had failed in his attempts to give the township ambulance service an additional year, and then six months, to resolve its financial problems.

"This caught me off guard. I was opposed to this from the start," Kerber said of the agreement with Jeannette EMS

Kerber did not sign the April 4 letter sent to Jeannette EMS that said the township had approved the proposed agreement naming Jeannette as the primary ambulance service.

Jeannette EMS stated in its suit that "it incurred significant expense" in preparing to provide ambulance service in Sewickley, including spending $5,925 in repairs to an ambulance to provide the service.

The suit claims the township's decision to revert to Community Ambulance Service further breached its obligation to financially assist Jeannette EMS by giving it some of the money from a two-mill tax for emergency services.

Jeannette EMS was to begin providing the service on June 1 from a base set up at the township municipal building, but Community Ambulance Service refused to move from its Herminie base, saying it had a 99-year lease on the building.

While there were delays in setting up a rented office trailer that Jeannette EMS would use, the supervisors reached a one-year agreement with Community Ambulance Service on June 7 that requires Rostraver/West Newton Emergency Services Inc. to work in conjunction with Community Ambulance Service in providing emergency services and overseeing its financial operations.

Community Ambulance Service had continued to provide ambulance service in Sewickley and Madison during the dispute with the supervisors.

Joe Napsha is a staff writer for Trib Total Media.

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