A Lackawanna County Court judge ruled Walter Stocki Jr. is in civil contempt of prior court orders to clear a scrap yard and adjacent properties at 105 N. Keyser Ave. in Old Forge.
In a decision issued Thursday, Judge Terrence Nealon ordered Stocki and his Scrap Enterprises Inc. and Trion Equipment Sales LLC to pay the borough $10,000 in damages and pay a $1,000-a-day fine starting Friday if violations continue.
The ruling was the latest development in what the judge termed a “judicial odyssey” and dispute between the borough and Stocki dating to 2017 and the subject since of protracted litigation.
The court case started after Old Forge cited Stocki and his business, Scrap Enterprises Inc., for operating an illegal junkyard at his property on North Keyser Avenue in violation of the borough zoning ordinance. Stocki maintained the business sells and rents heavy equipment, a use allowed under the ordinance.
Lackawanna County Judge Thomas J. Munley, left, listens on May 2, 2019 as Scrap Enterprises owner Walter Stocki Jr. speaks during a tour of what the court considers an illegal junkyard off Keyser Avenue in Old Forge. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)
“This prolonged litigation saga, which involves the enforcement of zoning ordinance provisions against a commercial property owner and his business entities for more than 100 months, has featured 20 hearings and numerous conferences, legal defense representation by five separate law firms, the filing of four petitions for contempt resulting in two independent adjudications of contempt, the issuance of a bench warrant and the 2021 confinement of the property owner, appeals to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania and the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, and the eventual retirement of the originally assigned judge,” Nealon’s order said in part. “In the latest chapter of this judicial odyssey, the borough seeks to have the owner and his businesses found in contempt of a stipulated Order dated March 3, 2025, while the owner and his businesses request a determination that they are substantially compliant with that Order.”
Stocki and his firms can purge the civil contempt and accruing daily fine by “removing all inoperable and non-operational machinery, vehicles and equipment” from the site, according to Nealon’s ruling, which also denied Stocki’s petition for a determination that he did comply with earlier court orders.
Efforts to reach Stocki or his attorney were unsuccessful. Stocki employee Joseph Kolmansperger, who had testified in proceedings about the activities of Scrap Enterprises and Trion Equipment Sales, returned a phone call for comment, saying they respect Nealon’s ruling but disagree with it. Kolmansperger declined to comment on whether Stocki might appeal the contempt order issued by Nealon.
Walter Stocki, Jr., owner of Scrap Enterprises, looks on as The Honorable Thomas J. Munley tours his property which the court considers an illegal junkyard off Keyser Avenue in Old Forge on Thursday, May 2, 2019. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)