Fraud Claims Against Tucker Arensberg Attorneys Set for ADR

(Photo: TebNad - Fotolia)

Pittsburgh law firm Tucker Arensberg and a Florida oil-and-gas company will go to mediation over claims that the law firm engaged in fraudulent conduct in the sale of a $3 million property in Pennsylvania.

Prime Energy and Chemical has alleged that Tucker Arensberg, through lawyers Michael Shiner and Kenneth Carroll, misrepresented its client's ownership of a property in McKean County that Prime Energy contracted to buy. Prime Energy filed a suit against Tucker Arensberg in March. The parties filed a stipulation on Oct. 26 agreeing to mediation, which is set to take place in December.

In its original complaint, Prime Energy alleged that it suffered damages of over $35 million from the alleged fraud, as well as $678,800 in lost deposits and other payments.

According to Prime Energy's second amended complaint, also filed Oct. 26, Tucker Arensberg represented Mark Thompson and Mid-East Oil Co.

Prime Energy alleged that the law firm misrepresented Thompson's ownership of the 2,352-acre property in McKean County, referred to as Swamp Angel Property. The property was owned by a company called MarcellX, the complaint said, which Thompson purported to own, but which was actually owned by another family.

In October 2015, Prime Energy paid a $600,000 deposit, which was delivered to an account owned by Thompson, as well as an additional $78,800 to further the sale of the $3 million property, the complaint said. But Prime Energy alleges that money never made it to the escrow account it was intended for.

According to the complaint, Prime Energy discovered in March 2016 that the actual owners of MarcellX were David Prushnok, G. Daniel Prushnok and John Prushnok. Prime Energy then entered a purchase agreement with the Prushnoks to acquire the Swamp Angel Property for $3 million.

"The Prushnoks were not represented by Tucker Arensberg and Shiner, who had misrepresented their representation of MarcellX in connection with the PSA, but by another firm," the complaint said. "And Prime Energy had to pay MarcellX an additional $400,000 deposit and did not receive any credit toward the purchase with the $678,800 fraudulently misappropriated by defendants and Thompson."

In May 2016, Shiner, of Tucker Arensberg, sent a letter to Prime Energy acknowledging that he did not represent MarcellX, the complaint said.

Thompson has been a defendant in at least two other cases related to the Swamp Angel Property, one of which resulted in a $2 million judgment against Thompson. Prime Energy alleged that Tucker Arensberg also failed to disclose those civil actions, as well as a series of violations charged by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Tucker Arensberg filed a motion to dismiss the claims, but U.S. District Chief Magistrate Judge Maureen Kelly of the Western District of Pennsylvania denied that motion in July, allowing the suit to move forward. She said Prime Energy sufficiently alleged that Shiner and Carroll made fraudulent misrepresentations, and "that Shiner directly received a pecuniary benefit from the transaction."

New York lawyer Charles Manuel Jr., who is representing Prime Energy, declined to comment on the case.

James Schadel of Burns White, who is representing Tucker Arensberg, Shiner and Carroll, did not respond to requests for comment.