Lansdale Settles Performing Arts Lawsuit for $12,000

The old Lansdale Center for the Performing Arts, known colloquially as 311 W. Main, continues to cost Lansdale Borough money—$12,000 to be exact.

In January 2013, former Lansdale Center for the Performing Arts business manager Anne Yannarella sued the North Penn Regional Council of the Arts, doing business as Lansdale Center for the Performing Arts, and four of its board members, in order to collect $16,750 in lost regular and overtime wages from 2010, according to civil court records.

Two of those four members being sued were Lansdale Council President Matt West and Lansdale Borough Manager Timi Kirchner. The other two were Montgomery County Republican Committee Chairman Robert Kerns and Dale Murphy.

All four were being sued because each "was directly involved in the decision to not pay wages and other compensation rightfully due (to) Yannarella," according to the civil complaint.

Following an executive session Wednesday night, Lansdale Borough Council voted 8-0 to accept an $18,000 total settlement compensation with Yannarella. Councilman Jack Hansen was absent from the meeting.

Of that $18,000, Lansdale Borough Council voted to pay $12,000, attributable to West and Kirchner. The remaining $6,000 was agreed upon, and will be paid by, Kerns and Murphy to Yannarella, per borough solicitor Mark Hosterman.

"Within the past two to three months, Mr. West and borough manager Ms. Kirchner, were sued by a former employee of the Lansdale Center for the Performing Arts, Anne Yannarella, seeking wages that were accrued while the performing arts center was still open, and then wages that were claimed after it was shut down and the doors were locked," Hosterman said.

While Yannarella, a borough resident, was seeking $16,725 in lost wages, the additional monies that total $18,000 result from liquidated damages and attorneys' fees that are entitled to Yannarella for the defendants' alleged violation of the Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law.

"Under applicable statute, there are liquidated damages for unpaid wages, that are collected in the amount of 25 percent," Hosterman said. "Additionally, counsel fees are awarded for the employee, who is paying counsel to collect those wages. And there is also an interest payment as well."

Hosterman called the $18,000 settlement "a good settlement." 

Hosterman's firm, Wisler Pearlstine, was borough council's shield for West and Kirchner from monetary damages.

"As agreed in the past, the borough appointed our firm to represent them in this litigation," Hosterman said. "They were on the board of directors. As a result of the lease between the Borough of Lansdale and the NPRCA, it was for that reason the borough provided coverage for them in defense."

Hosterman said the most recent lawsuit from Yannarella had no insurance counsel.

"Shortly after the complaint was served, borough council voted to have our solicitor firm defend West and Kirchner," he said.

There was insurance counsel however, he said, in the first lawsuit, because there is a defamation claim against West.

The first lawsuit was filed in 2010 by plaintiff Marja Kaisla, the former executive director of the LCPA. Kaisla is suing NPRCA, the LCPA, Kerns, Kirchner, West, and Murphy, and The Reporter Newspaper and its parent company Journal Register, according to civil documents.

However, Hosterman said Kaisla's lawsuit is on hold, due to the bankruptcy proceedings of Goodson Holding Company, a subsidiary of Journal Register.

"There's an automatic stay in effect, where no legal action is allowed to progress," he said.

How We Got Here

According to the civil document, Yannarella was paid $20 an hour as the business manager of 311 W. Main St. in Lansdale, aka Lansdale Center for the Performing Arts. Yannarella was in this role from February 2009 through August 2010, according to the civil complaint.

Yannarella was paid by the NPRCA, and it controlled the terms of her employment, according to the document. Yannarella “considered herself and was an employee of NPRCA,” the complaint states.

Yannarella claims that a year into her job, the defendants stopped paying her, but she continued to do her job through Aug. 1, 2010.

According to the document, on April 26, 2010, Kirchner and Kerns allegedly informed Yannarella that Kaisla was terminated from her position. They also told Yannarella that the LCPA was closing and the NPRCA was going in a different direction, per the civil complaint.

Both told Yannarella they wanted her to stay on to the end of the season, according to the complaint.  Murphy “assured Yannarella that she would be paid for the work she was doing and did for the NPRCA and LCPA,” according to the document.

After four days of receiving emails, allegedly from Murphy, regarding parties and events planned for the LCPA, Yannarella sent an email of her own, according to the document.

She requested her unpaid wages on April 29, 2010, from Kirchner, Kerns and Murphy, according to the complaint.

When Yannarella came to work on May 3, the locks had been changed, she alleged in the complaint. Yannarella claimed she called Murphy, who was not aware of the changed locks. Murphy allegedly said she would talk to Kerns about Yannarella’s job. Yannarella claimed she called Kirchner as well.

Between May 10 and August 1, Yannarella allegedly sent 22 emails to Murphy, each regarding work for the LCPA.

Yannarella was paid $30 an hour in overtime. According to the civil case, Yannarella worked 184.5 hours in overtime between February 1 and April 25, 2010.

Yannarella claimed the defendants deprived her of straight time and overtime wages, thus violating the Wage Payment and Collection Law.