YOUNGSTOWN - A visiting judge Friday set an April 1 hearing date for several motions in a 2011 breach of contract case filed in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court against embattled D&L Energy head Ben Lupo.
On that date, Judge Thomas Porkorny will hear arguments on motions on whether the lead plaintiff, Susan Faith, should be named head of one of the companies involved in the case. He also will hear arguments on whether one of the companies named in the case should be allowed to lease tanks to another entity.
Faith filed the breach-of-contract suit against Lupo and several of his companies that she also had ownership in. She claimed in her suit that Lupo took over several of the companies for his own benefit without consulting her.
She is asking for more than $25,000 in damages and that she be granted all documents and property from the companies involved in the case.
Lupo was not at the hearing Friday because he was in the Cleveland Clinic, according to one of his attorneys. He missed a similar hearing last week that also had to be rescheduled because of health problems. There were eight attorneys who attended Friday's hearing.
One of his attorneys, Randy Snow, declined to say what is wrong with Lupo.
Lupo, 62, of Poland, is under federal indictment for one count of violating the Clean Water Act after investigators say he admitted to ordering his employees to dump untreated oilfield waste stored on D&L Energy's Salt Springs Road property into a storm sewer, which ultimately drained into the Mahoning River.
Lupo has been free on bond since he was charged in February.