Barring a successful appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, the decades-long legal wrangling over what has come to be known as the Seven Fields development scam is over.

The case effectively has been resolved by a ruling filed Tuesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.

The decision amounts to a win for the Ernst & Young accounting firm, the successor to the firm that provided critical testimony in the bankruptcy proceedings in the mid-1980s of four firms that had been principally owned by Thomas and Barbara L. Reilly. Mr. Reilly went to jail in connection with the case that ultimately was determined to be a Ponzi scheme in which shares of property in Seven Fields Borough were oversold. Dozens of working-class investors were defrauded; many lost their retirement savings.

In 1997, the Reillys sued the accounting firm in Butler County Common Pleas Court, alleging that the accounting firm had committed what amounted to malpractice by having testified to the insolvency of the four companies that were eventually reorganized in bankruptcy court into the Seven Fields Development Corp. They contended they were unfairly denied the benefits of their development when the bankruptcy proceedings forced their divestiture of stock.

The case netted a $103 million verdict in 2003 in the Reillys' favor, though Mr. Reilly was barred by Butler County Common Pleas Judge Michael Yeager from sharing the spoils because of his prior "bad acts."

That verdict was vacated in 2007 by state Superior Court due to lower court "error" and a new trial was ordered.

Ernst & Young went to U.S. Bankruptcy Court later that year, asking that the Reillys' case through the state courts be blocked on the basis that the state case would contradict what already had been decided and settled by the original bankruptcy case. That appeal from the Pittsburgh firm of Duane Morris LLP was successful and the Reillys were enjoined from attempting further litigation in the state courts by virtue of an opinion in September 2008.

They appealed to U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, where the previous decision was upheld in May 2009. That decision was appealed to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, which affirmed the previous appellate decision.

"This effectively ends the case,'' said Robert L. Byer, a partner with Duane Morris LLP.

The Reillys have been represented by the Pribanic law firm in Pittsburgh. Victor Pribanic could not be reached for comment yesterday.

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