Court ruling postponed in Sunoco Pipeline case
“The exit of an attorney representing Sunoco Pipeline in a complicated legal battle in Washington County Court has stalled a ruling as to whether the company can impose eminent domain power for easements to construct a Marcellus Shale pipeline.
The new attorney, Alice Johnston of Obermayer, Rebmann, Maxwell & Hippel in Pittsburgh, was given until May 23 to catch up on the case in a ruling from the bench Wednesday by Judge Katherine B. Emery, the attorney for the defendants said.
“I disagreed,” said Michael Faherty, a Harrisburg attorney representing Ron and Sallie Cox of Chartiers Township in the case.
Johnston replaces Kandice Hull, who works for the same law firm that withdrew Wednesday from a high-profile case Sunoco has before the Public Utility Commission one day after a news report about its close connections to both the PUC and gas industry. StateImpact Pennsylvania reported Wednesday the law firm of McNees, Wallace and Nurick of Harrisburg represented energy companies before the PUC and has worked as counsel to the PUC on oil and gas zoning matters.
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Beveridge, Scott. Observer Reporter 1 May 2014.