Feb 23, 2020 3 min read

A Washington County judge issued a ruling that allows six lawsuits filed by North Strabane Township and owners of houses in the Majestic Hills neighborhood who were affected by landslides in 2018 to proceed.

Common Pleas Judge Michael J. Lucas issued the ruling on Thursday in response to challenges that various defendants made to the legal sufficiency of the cases against them. Lucas did throw out some claims, but not enough to dismiss any particular case in its entirety.

“In summary, recognizing that preliminary objections are not a means to attack the merits of the plaintiffs’ many claims but instead to challenge the adequacy of the plaintiff’s allegations made to support the claims, some objections are granted but no action is dismissed,” Lucas wrote in the 38-page decision. “Each plaintiff is granted leave to file an amended complaint because the futility of that effort has not been established.”

The plaintiffs filed their cases in 2018 and 2019, following earth slippage and other problems at the exurban housing plan that culminated in the township’s condemning three houses and having them torn down. The cases target developer Joseph DeNardo and his wife, Shari, as defendants. They also name the DeNardos’ company, Majestic Hills LLC – which prepared plots for the houses to be built – plus JND Properties, which is registered as belonging to Joseph.

The lawsuits name other companies involved in building up the neighborhood, including Alton Industries Inc.; Strnisha Excavating; geotechnical firm Pennsylvania Soil & Rock and one of its geologists, Mark Brashear; civil engineering firm Morris Knowles & Associates; and NVR Inc., which is better known as Ryan Homes. One couple who lost their house – Douglas and Suzanne Grimes – also named the township and Gateway Engineers, which advises the local government.

Claims against the various defendants include fraud, breach of contract, negligence and other alleged violations.

In one part of his ruling, Lucas declined to throw out a count of the township’s lawsuit in which it sought to “pierce the corporate veil.” Allowing the township to do so would mean that the court could hold the DeNardos and JND Properties liable for the actions of Majestic Hills LLC. Among the allegations the township made to support doing so was one that the DeNardos and their companies “failed to adhere to corporate formalities, kept Majestic Hills LLC undercapitalized and intermingled assets.” The municipality also alleged the developers had a direct role in a “failure to follow grading permit requirements,” among other lapses.

Lucas said that at this stage – when the court must assume the plaintiffs’ allegations are true – there was enough basis to leave that claim in place.

In addition to the Grimeses, the other property owners who brought suit are Jeanne Hecht, Jessica and Brian Sanders, Rajiv and Namrata Bhatt, and Jeffrey and Christine Swarek. The township municipal authority also filed a lawsuit.

For a time, Lucas allowed the cases to be combined with a federal lawsuit that Ryan Homes had brought against other companies involved in the Majestic Hills project for the purposes of mediation before they would proceed in state court. Those efforts yielded no resolution, and the federal lawsuit is ongoing.