Erie entrepreneur Samuel P. "Pat" Black III is hanging on to his house. But he risks losing control of other valuable properties.

Black's daughter is holding off on plans to force the sale of the house where her 84-year-old father lives on Erie's bayfront.

Other Black-related properties still could be headed for sheriff's sales as part of the intrafamily feud over Black's fading financial fortune.

Sumi James-Black, the daughter, 51, is attempting to collect on a $336,000 judgment that her trust won against her adoptive father's partnership in Erie County Common Pleas Court on April 8.

The case is part of a legal battle that includes massive litigation in which Black claims James-Black defrauded him of $200 million and left him with few financial assets.

Black adopted James-Black in 2019, when he was 77 and she was 44. She was once the heir apparent of her adoptive father's business empire, including a biofuels plant on East Lake Road.

Writ lists another house, insurance agency property

In the latest case, James-Black's SJB 2020 Inheritance Trust has moved to execute on the $336,000 judgment by filing a writ to force sheriff's sales of several properties under the ownership of her father's Black Interests Limited Partnership. The sales would occur if the partnership fails to come up with the money to satisfy the judgment.

The partnership owns Black's 3,890-square-foot house on the exclusive Niagara Pointe Drive overlooking Presque Isle Bay. James-Black has opted to exclude the house from the writ of execution, filed on April 21, according to court records.

The writ requests that sheriff's sales get scheduled for five other partnership-owned properties, including another houses on Niagara Pointe Drive. Also on the writ's list are two condominium units on Top Road, southwest of Niagara Pointe Drive, as well as a 159-year-old building at 121 E. Second St. and an adjacent parking lot at 123 E. Second St.

The two Second Street properties have a long history with Black. The building is home to the Black Insurance Group, which Black's father, Samuel P. Black Jr., founded in 1962 as Samuel P. Black & Associates. He went on to create the Black Interests Limited Partnership eight years before his death.

Samuel P. Black Jr. died at 99 in 2001, leaving control of the partnership to his son.

Pat Black for years was president of the Black Insurance Group. He no longer holds that role. The Black Interests Limited Partnership continues to own the properties on East Second Street with the Black Insurance Group as a tenant.

The current president of the Black Insurance Group, Kevin Hughes, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the writ of execution.

'A specific exception' for Black's house

The writ of execution grew out of an arbitration award that James-Black's trust won against her father's partnership in November. James-Black's trust claimed the partnership failed to provide financial documents to the trust and distribute money to it, according to court records.

An arbitrator ruled on Nov. 13 that Black's partnership had to pay the trust $334,395 within 30 days. James-Black's lead lawyer, John Mizner, then asked an Erie County judge to enter a judgment against the partnership in the amount of $334,395, plus attorney's fees.

Judge Erin Connelly Marucci settled on a final amount of $336,377 when she granted the judgment on April 8.

Mizner said James-Black's trust had no choice but to file the writ of execution on April 21.

"Since last November, Mr. Black’s partnership has disregarded both the arbitrator's and now Judge Connelly-Marucci’s order of April 8th, by failing to remit payment," Mizner said in an email. "This continued noncompliance necessitates the immediate execution of the judgment to recover all outstanding funds."

Mizner explained why Black's residence was excluded from the writ.

"While we are proceeding with full collection efforts," Mizner said in the email, "we have granted a specific exception for Mr. Black's primary residence, owned by the partnership, following a request from his daughter, Sumi James-Black, to ensure his personal well-being remains undisturbed."

A lawyer for Black, Anthony Angelone, said the partnership plans to satisfy the judgment.

"This is just a waste of money," Angelone said of the writ of execution.

Latest connected to larger litigation

The relationship between Black and James-Black collapsed when he fired her in 2022 as the interim CEO and chief operating officer of Black's Erie Management Group, which included the biofuels plant and the Black Insurance Group.

Black sued James-Black and others for fraud in 2024 in U.S. District Court in Erie. A judge dismissed the case's federal claims in February. Black is appealing the decision.

The appeal is pending as James-Black is questioning Black's mental fitness. That issue is being litigated in separate and unresolved court proceedings.

Original Article by: Ed Palattella at epalattella@usatodayco.com or 814-870-1813.