City settles its part of arcade suit

Philadelphia will pay $60,000 to the Schoepe family to cover legal fees and lost revenues from the forced closing. Ending part of a controversial lawsuit, the City of Philadelphia agreed Friday to pay the owners of a local video arcade and laundry $60,000 to settle claims that the University and the city shut the establishments down illegally last April. But University attorneys said they won't give up their court fight with the Schoepe family, which owns University Pinball and University Laundry at 4006-4008 Spruce Street. The $60,000 settlement represents the equivalent of the revenues the Schoepes lost after the city revoked the establishments' operating licenses last April, shutting the businesses for approximately one week, as well as the Schoepes' legal fees, according to a city spokesperson. "We think it is a good settlement for the city, and clearly that's why we agreed to it," said Deputy Mayor Kevin Feeley, the chief spokesperson for the city. The settlement amount is 50 percent more, however, than what the city had originally offered the Schoepes August 1, according to court documents. Since the Schoepes didn't accept that settlement within 10 days, city attorneys withdrew the offer. It was not immediately clear from the settlement whether the city had admitted any wrongdoing in the affair. William Schoepe and his sons William Jr. and Robert sued the University, Director of Police Operations Maureen Rush, the city Department of Licenses and Inspections and Director of Business Regulatory Enforcement Rudolph Paliaga in U.S. District Court on April 24. In May, the Schoepes also filed a civil suit in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court against the University and its chief spokesperson, Ken Wildes, accusing them of libel and slander over remarks Wildes made in the May 8 issue of the weekly University City Review. The University filed countersuits against the Schoepes in both cases, claiming that the businesses attract criminals and threaten public safety, particularly at night. University attorneys filed the counterclaim in the libel suit last Wednesday, two days before the city and Paliaga settled their part of the federal suit with the Schoepes. In its countersuits, the University seeks to shut down the arcade and laundry at night and force the owners to enforce the school-day and nighttime curfews for persons under 18 years of age, in addition to seeking unspecified damages. Court documents gave no indication of any impending settlement between the University and the Schoepes, and Penn Associate General Counsel Roman Petyk refused to comment on whether any such deal was in the works. Additionally, Feeley said he didn't know whether the University and the Schoepes were in settlement negotiations. Schoepe attorney Ron Shaffer was unavailable for comment yesterday. "Clearly [University officials] believe that the plaintiff in this case is operating a business that is a nuisance to the site and the University," Feeley said. Most of the game room's patrons are local West Philadelphia residents and not Penn students. That, according to the Schoepes, raises questions about whether University officials want to shut the businesses down out of valid security concerns, or whether administrators merely want to give the impression they are actively fighting crime. The University claims that the arcade's customers urinate in the streets, steal cars, smoke marijuana, deal drugs and cause general mayhem in the area of 40th and Spruce streets, across the street from the Dental School and the Van Pelt College House. Judges will set a trial date for the federal lawsuit after November 3 and for the libel suit after Dec. 7, 1998.

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