Competition between ambulance services is fine, along as Lewis
Run Borough residents are being served, said Council President
Frank Langianese.
And with a letter to that effect sent to Brian Gustafson, Lewis
Run became the first municipality to be dropped as a defendant in a
lawsuit over antitrust and unfair competition laws, explained
Gustafson, of Priority Care Ambulance, on Monday.
“If there were five ambulance services, they could all come in,”
Langianese said. “We don’t think (the contract with the city) is an
exclusive contract.”
“Lewis Run declared their agreement for emergency ambulance
service with the city as non-exclusive,” Gustafson said. “That will
remove Lewis Run from the complaint.
“That’s all they needed to do was basically send us a letter
saying we could come in there and operate,” he added. “That’s
essentially all we were asking for.”
The complaint to which he refers is a lawsuit that has been
filed against Lewis Run, as well as the townships of Foster,
Bradford, Corydon and Lafayette; Bradford City Fire Chief Bill
McCormack and against the City of Bradford.
The suit alleges that Priority Care is being run out of business
by McCormack and the city. Gustafson says the city and its fire
chief entered ambulance service agreements with the five
municipalities and then told them the city would be the exclusive
ambulance service provider.
Therefore, Priority Care would be blocked from operating in the
municipalities.
Gustafson’s attorney, Carl Hittinger of Philadelphia, sent a
letter to all municipalities last month asking them to clarify
their interpretations of the service agreements.
The only other municipality to reply as of Monday was Lafayette
Township, Gustafson said. Lafayette Township representatives had
sent a letter to Hittinger explaining their interpretation of the
service agreement with the city.
“In essence, Lafayette said that agreement is not exclusive,”
Gustafson explained. He added that he will meet with them to
discuss issues before a decision is made as to the township’s
status in the lawsuit.
“Depending on our meeting with Lafayette, this may remove them
(from the lawsuit) as well,” he said.
Gustafson said there is an outstanding issue with Lafayette
Township over the previous coverage area of the Hilltop Ambulance
Service, which Priority Care has acquired. The meeting with
Lafayette will include discussions as to the service area, he
explained.
Meanwhile, litigation is continuing against the other parties,
Gustafson said.
“We have filed the writs on all the municipalities. We have 20
days to file the complaint,” he said. “Our attorney is in the
process of filling out the final complaints.
“We’re going to file them here relatively shortly,” he said.
