City will pay $45,000 to help settle SteelHounds lawsuit

YOUNGSTOWN — The city has reached a tentative settlement on a lawsuit filed against it and the former manager of its Chevrolet Centre by the owner of the Youngstown SteelHounds hockey team.

City council will consider legislation Wednesday authorizing the board of control to pay $45,000 to Blue Line LLC, the parent company of the former Youngstown SteelHounds minor league hockey team that played its home games for three seasons, 2005-08, at the center.

The matter will to be resolved before March 14 when the three sides were to appear in front of Richard Blair, a Youngstown-based attorney serving as the case’s mediator, said James G. Floyd, serving as the city’s attorney on this case.

This resolves all outstanding issues involving the three entities, Floyd said.

“I think it’s a phenomenal resolution for the amount of grief to go away once and for all,” Floyd, a Youngstown attorney, said of the settlement.

International Coliseums Co., a Phoenix company that managed the center for the city between October 2005 and October 2007, will also make a payment to Blue Line.

That amount isn’t known.

For the complete story, read Tuesday’s Vindicator or Vindy.com