A law firm representing the recently denied Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus in Archbald is now targeting Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan and two Valley View school directors in their individual capacities, demanding the three men preserve all of their data-center-related documents and communications ahead of potential litigation against Archbald and its council.
Reed Smith LLP, using its New York City law office, sent preservation notices this week to Gaughan — an outspoken critic of local data center proposals — and Valley View School District Board of Education members Thomas “Bear” Owen and Joseph Farrell, both of whom represent Archbald at the district. Owen serves as the school board’s secretary and is the husband of Archbald Councilwoman Erin Owen.
Gaughan and Owen received notices dated Monday; Farrell’s was dated Wednesday, according to copies of the documents reviewed by The Times-Tribune.
Joseph A. Farrell (SUBMITTED)
Tom Owen (SUBMITTED)
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Joseph A. Farrell (SUBMITTED)
All three letters use identical language, telling the men they are being put on notice in their individual capacities of their obligations to preserve all “hard copy, tangible, or electronically-stored information relating to the subject matter of the prospective Litigations, including but not limited to all communications related to the Litigations, the Application, and data centers generally.”
Archbald Solicitor Jay O’Connor declined to comment whether borough council members received similar notices, citing attorney-client privilege and pending litigation.
Gaughan, who has testified multiple times against Wildcat Ridge, attacked the preservation notice in a statement Thursday afternoon.
“Apparently, when a community stands up to a billion-dollar industry and wins, the next step is to send in the lawyers. Yesterday, I received a three-page letter from Reed Smith, a massive international law firm representing the developer of the rejected Wildcat Ridge data center project. The letter warns of potential litigation, demands the preservation of an extraordinary range of communications and personal records, and threatens severe legal consequences for failing to comply,” the commissioner wrote. “Let’s call this what it looks like: an attempt to intimidate me and send a chilling message to anyone who dares stand in the way of the data center industry’s ambitions.”
Valley View Solicitor Larry Moran Jr. said in a texted statement Thursday that he hopes the notices were sent to the school directors in error.
“If not, then they are illustrations of a petty intimidation tactic that won’t succeed in any courtroom I’ve been inside,” said Moran, of Joyce, Carmody & Moran in Pittston.
‘Relevant to the litigation’
Though they correctly address Gaughan, Farrell and Owen regarding their titles with the county and Valley View, respectively, the letters later appear to misidentify the roles of the men, telling all three to preserve any and all documents and communications accessed or used in their roles on the “Borough Planning Commission or Borough Community Development and Economic Committee” related to data centers.
Gaughan, a Scranton resident, said he has never served on either the commission or committee; Moran confirmed that neither Farrell nor Owen has served on either the commission or committee.
The notices arrived a week after Archbald council unanimously denied Brooklyn-based Cornell Realty Management’s Dec. 15 conditional use application seeking to build 14 data centers above Archbald’s Eynon and Sturges sections, spanning 574.2 mountainside acres along Business Route 6 and Route 247, or Wildcat Road.
In a written decision explaining its Oct. 21 denial, Archbald council said it determined that Wildcat Ridge “failed to demonstrate through credible evidence, that the proposed use will not substantially injure or detract from the use of neighboring properties; that traffic will be accommodated in a safe and efficient manner; or the public health will be adequately safeguarded.”
The written decision gave the applicant 30 days to appeal the denial to the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas. The preservation notices, signed by Reed Smith attorney Jordan W. Siev, reference the likelihood of future litigation.
“Following last week’s public vote denying the Application, we reasonably foresee litigation against the Borough and the members of the Borough Council of Archbald Borough in their individual capacities (as to each and every such potential Borough and individual Borough Council of Archbald Borough member claim, the ‘Litigations’),” Siev wrote in the notices. “Upon information and belief, you have documents relevant to the Litigation.”
Reed Smith was one of two law firms representing Wildcat Ridge during its conditional use proceedings, which spanned nine hearings and about 26 hours of testimony and oftentimes heated cross-examination. Attorneys from the law firm previously sent all seven Archbald council members motions demanding their recusal over allegations of bias, contending that even the appearance of bias is grounds for recusal.
Council did not heed those motions, instead moving forward to deny the application. Six of the seven council members signed and submitted notarized affidavits during Wildcat Ridge’s final hearing Sept. 9 averring they can decide on the application fairly and impartially. Council Vice President Joseph Altier III and council members Larry Marchetti, Madonna Munley, Lisa Osborne, Erin Owen and Larry West signed the affidavits. Council President Louis Rapoch, who was absent Sept. 9, did not sign an affidavit.
The preservation notices extend beyond just items pertaining to Wildcat Ridge, instead asking Gaughan, Farrell and Owen to retain information regarding Archbald council members, Wildcat Ridge’s application and “data centers generally.”
Specifically, Reed Smith asks them to preserve electronically stored information related to the litigation, application and data centers, including:
• Their internet network systems.
• Email servers and any repository of emails.
• All personal or governmental smartphones upon which relevant information has or is being maintained.
• Administrative offices, including backup and disaster recovery restoration repositories, or libraries of hard copy materials of any description (regardless of where they are located) and online training and operation manuals that have been scanned to disk.
• Any offsite technical support systems.
• Web hosting and administration services.
The notice extends to all future communications regarding Wildcat Ridge’s application.
“This is not an optional request, but a mandatory directive supported by applicable law and rules for you to take all reasonable steps to preserve and safeguard evidence relating to the Litigations, the Application, or data centers generally in any manner whatsoever, whether in hard copy or electronic form. Under no circumstances may such data be altered, destroyed or discarded for any reason,” Siev wrote. “Your failure to comply with this notice to retain all relevant data may result in severe consequences under the law, in which individuals, entities, and/or their counsel may be held liable for monetary or other punishment under contempt of court.”
‘Never surrender’
Residents have widely opposed Wildcat Ridge at public hearings and meetings, and Gaughan testified against the campus on multiple occasions.
Opponents of the Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus project celebrate the denial of the project at an Archbald Borough Council meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026 at the Borough Building. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Gaughan pointed to those hearings and council’s ultimate denial in his statement.
“The people of Archbald spent months attending hearings, asking questions, examining evidence, and exercising their democratic rights. Their elected representatives listened and voted to reject this project. That is not a failure of democracy. That is democracy working exactly as it should. It’s clear that accepting the will of the people is harder for some developers than accepting a return on their investment,” he said. “Think about the message this sends. A community exercises its rights; a project is rejected; and suddenly an international law firm arrives with warnings about litigation and personal liability. If the intention is to make me think twice before speaking out against data center projects, they have badly miscalculated.
“I will never surrender my voice, my principles, or my responsibility to the people of Lackawanna County. These developers can hire the biggest law firms in America. They can spend millions on consultants, lobbyists, and public relations campaigns. They can threaten lawsuits until they are blue in the face but there is one thing their money can’t buy: the consent of a community that has decided enough is enough,” the commissioner continued. “The people of Archbald won a democratic victory last week. They should not have to defend their right to say no against an army of corporate attorneys.”
He took the preservation notice as a challenge.
“To the developers who think a threatening letter will silence me, I have a simple message: You sent your letter to the wrong guy,” he wrote.
Check back for updates.