Timoney to serve as witness for U. in suit

John Timoney will speak as an expert for Penn in the University's legal battle over the Game Room. Before he was appointed commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department, John Timoney already had ties to the city's largest private employer -- the University of Pennsylvania. Timoney, who came from New York City to take over the troubled department earlier this month, is scheduled to be an expert witness for the University in its ongoing legal feud with the owners of a local video arcade and laundry. According to a pretrial memorandum filed in October by University attorneys, Timoney is one of three expert witnesses scheduled to testify in the case. He reviewed several documents related to the incident and personally inspected the site, according to a source close to the case. City officials, assisted by University Police, shut down University Pinball and University Laundry, at 4006-4008 Spruce Street, last April. Penn officials say the establishments were attracting crime to the area and failed to comply with University requests not to remain open for 24 hours. Following the closing, the Schoepe family, which owns the establishments, sued the University and the city in federal District Court, asserting that Penn and the Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections conspired to illegally shut them down. Penn has countersued. Last fall, the city paid the Schoepes $60,000 to settle its part of the suit last fall. Timoney already gave a deposition in the case and is still scheduled to testify despite his appointment, the source said. The former No. 2 man in the New York Police Department would probably testify that the Schoepes' businesses do in fact attract crime to the area and therefore posed a safety hazard when the University closed them down, the source added. Timoney declined to comment on his potential testimony, as did attorneys for Penn and the Schoepes. The lawsuit has already forced several top Penn officials -- including University President Judith Rodin and Executive Vice President John Fry -- to give depositions. But the case has been languishing in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for nearly three months now, waiting for a an appellate ruling. The University filed appeals of several pre-trial rulings by U.S. District Judge Marvin Katz, who suspended the case while the appeals court considers the motion. The basis of the appeal is Katz's denial of Penn's motion for a quick judgment in favor of the University. Penn attorneys wanted to immediately appeal that decision, but a trial judge must grant permission to file an appeal while a case is still active. Katz denied the University's request to appeal, so they then appealed Katz's denial of the appeal as well as the original denial for summary judgment. The 3rd Circuit must first rule on whether or not Penn is allowed to appeal, and then on the substance of the actual appeal. The court has taken virtually no action since the appeal was filed in early January, but both sides expect something to happen next month.