LebTown reported yesterday that the August 10 emergency hearing requested by Lebanon County in its Commonwealth Court lawsuit against Gov. Tom Wolf had been postponed at the request of both sides, with no rescheduled date.
The lawsuit seeks the release to the county of nearly $13 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds withheld by the governor.
The wording of the court’s postponement order suggested that the parties might have reached a settlement, but LebTown had been unable to obtain the actual court documents by publication time.
Overnight, the court emailed a copy of the “Joint Application For Relief in the Nature of a Motion to Continue Oral Argument” and it confirms that the county and the governor have at least reached a tentative agreement.
In the document, filed last Friday, both sides told the court “[t]he parties have now reached an agreement in principle to resolve this case but require additional time to obtain the necessary signatures on the written agreement,” and that “[o]nce the documentation is completed, this action will be withdrawn or discontinued.” (Emphasis added by LebTown.)
Since the court’s order set a deadline of this coming Monday, August 17, for the parties to report back if the case still wasn’t settled, it is possible — but not guaranteed — that a settlement could be announced today. No settlement is ever final until papers are signed and lawsuits officially discontinued.
Read all of LebTown’s COVID-19 coverage here.
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