The saga of the Bush House Estate in Muncy Township appeared to come closer to a final resolution Monday in Lycoming County Court.

Joseph F. Orso III, attorney for Alvico, Ltd., whose president is Alvin C. Bush Jr., former owners of the property, voluntarily asked for dismissal of the case to be served on the defendant attorneys, J. Michael Wiley, and Nicholas D. Grimes, both of McCormick Law Firm, according to a court document signed by Orso, of Rudinski, Orso & Associates.

The dismissal by Orso is over FAMVEST’s previously filed motion to enforce a settlement agreement in court. Wiley and Grimes represented FAMVEST in this civil action.

The outline of the civil case is as follows:

On or about March 31, Alvico commenced action against a now-defunct entity known as FAMVEST Acquisitions, LLC. This action alleged a claim for specific performance under an “Agreement of Sale” dated Aug. 4, 2022. This was for the sale and purchase of property at 231 S. Lycoming Mall Road, Muncy Township. Along with the action, Alvico filed a petition for preliminary injunction to prevent the demolition of the structure on the property – the Bush House.

Closing on the “Agreement of Sale” occurred on or about Feb. 6, 2023. The entity that took title to the property at closing is FAMVEST XXIII – 231 SLMR LLC (“FAMVEST”) and FAMVEST Acquisitions, LLC was subsequently dissolved and is no longer an existing legal entity, court documents said.

On or about April 20, preliminary objections to the complaint and a motion to dismiss the preliminary injunction were filed in the litigation. Argument on the preliminary objections and motion to dismiss the preliminary injunction was scheduled for May 27.

On April 28, a notice and demand was sent to Alvico and its counsel.

On May 7, a representative of Alvico, Bush Jr., contacted a representative of FAMVEST, Jon M. Jahanshahi, by telephone to inform him of Alvico’s decision to withdraw and discontinue the litigation. During this call, Bush indicated that he was not against the Bass Pro project, the redevelopment of the former Lycoming Mall, the demolition of the Bush House, or FAMVEST or its members, and that he would be willing to make a public statement to that effect in connection with the withdrawal and dismissal of the litigation.

Counsel for Alvico stated that his client required a release to dismiss the case. On May 12, a draft agreement along with correspondence to counsel for Alvico was sent. On May 20, electronic mail was sent to counsel for Alvico inquiring as to the status of the agreement.

Counsel for Alvico communicated by telephone that the agreement was acceptable but the press release as drafted was not – pointing out a specific paragraph.

On May 26, a revised agreement with a revised press release was sent to counsel for Alvico. The following day, that attorney responded by electronic mail: “All good.” The package was finalized. May 27 was the date scheduled for argument on the preliminary objections and motion to dismiss. Based on the settlement reached, the court judge was informed of the settlement and argument was postponed.

On June 1, electronic mail was sent to counsel for Alvico inquiring about the status of the signed agreement. Two days later, counsel for Alvico responded: “He is not agreeing to sign with any press release.”

In response, counsel for FAMVEST said: “It is well-settled law the elemental aspects necessary to give rise to an enforceable contract are ‘offer,’ ‘acceptance,’ ‘consideration,’ or mutual meeting of the minds.'” “An offer to contract must be intentional and sufficiently definite in its terms, and no offer will be found to exist where its essential terms are unclear. Further, an offer’s power to accept is terminated by: A counter-offer by the offeree; a lapse of time; a revocation by the offeror; or the death or incapacity of either party.” “Once the offeree has exercised his power to create a contract by accepting the offer, a purported revocation is ineffective as such. “An agreement is an enforceable contract, wherein the parties intended to conclude a binding agreement and the essential terms of that agreement are certain enough to provide the basis for providing an appropriate remedy,” according to law.

According to FAMVEST, a planned Wawa and Hilton-brand hotel are not being proposed on the site of the Bush House, but rather nearby as part of a larger development.

Famvest officials at the March 1 event in Lycoming County said they made every effort to sell or rent the Bush House property.