West Chester Borough Council voted to settle its litigation with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Pfizer on May 18th, bringing an end to the long and arduous process that has ultimately ended up in a draw, writes Candice Monhollan for Daily Local News.

“While the borough has full faith in the merits of its claims against Pfizer/Wyeth, the settlement allows the borough to finalize litigation that has gone in favor of each part at various points, leaving the likely results uncertain,” said Ellen Koopman, President of the Borough Council.

Pfizer bought Wyeth for $68 billion in 2009, including the plant on South Bolmar Street. Two years later, Pfizer said it would stop paying the $800,000 a year for maintenance of the Goose Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant it had been paying under Wyeth’s 1984 agreement with the borough.  

Pfizer argued that as the plant closed in 2004 and was demolished two years later, there were no facilities to produce wastewater at the location. Following the decision to halt payments, the company sued the borough in an attempt to reclaim the payments made after 2004, at which point the borough countersued.

The Common Pleas Court came back in 2014 with a decision in favor of the borough, ordering the company to pay more than $1.72 million in damages and ruled that the 1984 agreement remained valid and enforceable.

Pfizer submitted an appeal to the Commonwealth Court, which overturned the ruling and told Pfizer it could be entitled to rebates on charges assessed by the borough from 2006 to 2011, causing the borough to further appeal that decision to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Last week’s settlement terminates the 1984 written agreement and mutually releases both sides from any obligation, causes of action, and suits related to the subject.

Read more about the settlement at Daily Local News here, and check out previous VISTA Today coverage of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals here.