Moffie gets $4K settlement after city demolishes house

By David Skolnick

skolnick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

A Poland man, who had a house he owns on the city’s South Side demolished without being told beforehand, accepted $4,000 to settle a lawsuit against Youngstown and the Mahoning County Land Bank.

The house at 3240 South Ave., owned by Sam Moffie, was demolished Nov. 16 and 17, 2013. Moffie found out about the demolition the following month and filed a lawsuit. The suit names the city and land bank as well as some of their employees and five companies.

The city had sent a certified letter and another through regular mail July 18, 2013, to Moffie’s former residence on Golfview Avenue in Boardman, stating the house was blighted and unsafe, according to records in a city file on the South Avenue property. Moffie hasn’t lived at that Boardman address for about three years, and both letters were returned to the city.

That same city file showed Youngstown officials had Moffie’s correct address as well as his cellphone number and email address.

In a Tuesday filing with the Mahoning County Common Pleas’ clerks office, Thomas Pokorny, a visiting judge assigned to this matter, wrote the “case is settled and dismissed.”

Anthony Donofrio, the city’s deputy law director, said Moffie’s settlement was $4,000 — $2,000 from the city and $2,000 from the county land bank.

The case was resolved with the help of Richard B. Blair, a mediator, Oct. 15, but not filed by Pokorny with the court until Tuesday.

County auditor records show Moffie owes $1,940 in delinquent taxes on the property.