By Bobby Kerlik, Pittsburgh Tribune Review
Original publication date: April 5, 2011

An attorney for the estate of slain Pittsburgh police Officer Eric Kelly sued Allegheny County and administrators of the 911 system yesterday, the two-year anniversary of the shootings that killed three officers in Stanton Heights.

The lawsuit in Common Pleas Court did not include a complaint detailing any claims against the county. Attorney Nathan Ramsey could not be reached for comment.

Days after the officers were ambushed while responding to a domestic disturbance, county officials acknowledged that a 911 call-taker failed to relay to dispatchers and police that Margaret Poplawski said her son Richard had guns in the house when she called for help.

Richard Poplawski, 24, is awaiting trial on charges of killing Kelly, 41, Stephen J. Mayhle, 29, and Paul J. Sciullo II, 36, when they arrived at the home.

A woman who answered the phone at Kelly’s family’s home declined comment. Attorney David Hoffman, who is listed as a plaintiff, said he is the temporary administrator for Kelly’s estate. He said lawyers filed the writ to prevent the statute of limitations from running out.

Hoffman said that he did not know details of what the lawsuit would claim and that he is only loosely involved with the case until a judge appoints a permanent administrator.

Kevin Evanto, a spokesman for county Executive Dan Onorato, declined to comment on the litigation.

The lawsuit is the first filed by an estate of one of the officers and the second involving the 911 center. Margaret Poplawski sued the county in June and claimed the dispatcher’s failure to pass along warnings that her son was armed, and the ensuing fatal gunfight and investigation, made her home uninhabitable and of no value.

Attorney Phil DiLucente, who has no connection to the case, said the Kelly lawsuit likely would involve a negligence claim against the county related to a possible “breach of duty.” Negligence claims have to be filed within two years, he said.

“They wanted to make sure they protected the rights of the estate,” said DiLucente, who handles civil and criminal litigation.

Hours before the Kelly lawsuit was filed, the county sheriff’s office suspended a scheduled sheriff’s sale of the Poplawski home because the lending bank pulled the home from the auction block.

JP Morgan Chase Bank sent a letter to the sheriff’s office last week requesting the sale be halted. Margaret Poplawski owes about $60,000 on the Fairfield Street home, Sgt. Richard Fersch of the sheriff’s office has said.

Tom Kelly, a spokesman for the bank, said the foreclosure was canceled in order to allow the bank more time to evaluate whether an auction is the “right resolution” for the property. 

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