Pa. bank files suit against trustee

The bank is suing for foreclosure on property where nearly $305,000 plus interest is owed.
By JEANNE STARMACK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- A bank has sued for foreclosure on the property where a township trustee's law office is located, and the trustee owes another bank almost $12,000 in credit card debt, according to complaints on file with Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Warren "Bo" Pritchard, whose office is at 296 Canfield Niles Road, is named in a foreclosure complaint filed in the court Oct. 31.
Also named as defendants in the complaint are Pritchard's wife, Cecilia, John J. Jacobs and Citibank.
The plaintiff in the case is First National Bank of Pennsylvania in Hermitage.
About the complaint
According to the complaint, the Pennsylvania bank is the successor in interest to Metropolitan National Bank, from which the Pritchards borrowed $350,000 in October 2001.
The complaint says the Pritchards have failed to make payments, and nearly $305,000 is owed on the loan, plus interest at a default rate from May 21, plus unpaid late charges.
To secure payment on the loan, Metropolitan had a mortgage on the Canfield Niles Road property, the complaint says.
The Pennsylvania bank says in the complaint that the note secured by the mortgage is in default, so the bank is entitled to have the mortgage foreclosed.
The complaint says that the Pritchards, Jacobs and Citibank may claim to have interest in or liens against the property. It asks that the court require them to appear and indicate whatever interests they may have in the property, or be barred forever from asserting those interests.
The complaint wants the court to find that the note is in default and the bank is due the remaining amount from the Pritchards.
It asks that the court finds the bank has the first lien against the property after the Mahoning County treasurer for real estate taxes.
And the bank asks the court to grant it the foreclosure so it can sell the property.
Another case filed
In another civil case filed Nov. 4, MBNA America Bank of Wilmington, Del., wants the common pleas court to confirm an arbitrator's award of $11,909 to the bank in a claim against Pritchard.
The complaint says Pritchard opened a credit card account with the bank and that arbitration was a provision in the credit card agreement should disputes arise.
The arbitration award was issued July 7.
Pritchard was unavailable to comment Monday. His wife said she did not wish to comment.
Pritchard was a township trustee from 1994 to 1998 and from 2001 to the present. He is running again for one of two open seats in today's election.