The Pennichuck Corporation has sued the City of Nashua for 5 million dollars.
Pennichuck is at odds with the city over who should own and control the region's municipal water supply.
New Hampshire Public Radio's David Darman has more.
Pennichuck is suing Nashua to stop the city's two year effort to acquire the company.
That effort culmunated last month when Nashua moved to acquire the company by eminent domain.
Pennichuck president Donald Correll says his company filed suit because the city's actions amount to goverment abuse.
it is pennichuck's contention that the city is abusing its eminent domain power in attempt 1. to take pennichucks assets which it knows it has no legal authority to take. two, to freeze the company in a kind of bizness limbo so that we cannot conduct our normal business operations...
Nashua announced its intention to seize the company after Pennichuck officials broke off negotiations with the city.
Last year, voters approved the city's proposal to purchase the company for 121 million dollars.
Since Nashua announced its plan to acquire the company by eminent domain, Pennichuck has resisted with appeals to regulators and the courts.
Nashua mayor Bernard Streeter says the latest suit is part of the company's efforts to stonewall the proceedings.
this filing and the other filings that they have undertaken its just another way to divert attention and our resources from the eminent domain proceedings that we have engaged in. and their latest allegations are nothing new compared to the early declaratory judgement.
Pennichuck's suit alleges that Nashua has strung out its effort to purchase Pennichuck, which has hurt the company's ability to conduct business and make profitable deals.
Even supporters of Nashua's efforts to acquire Pennichuck agree that the city's efforts have taken too long.
Barbara Presly is a former alderman and state representative who supports the city's takeover of the water company.
i agree with some of their complaints about the city. some of their complaints are the same ones that i have. the city did do nothing for a year, we were absolutely frustrated.
For many supporters of the city's takeover of Pennichuck, municipal control guarantees that Nashua's water will stay under local ownership.
Pennichuck's merger agreement would have ceded control to an out of state company.
But if that happened, the water utility would remain under regulation by the state's Public Utility Commission.
But with a new suit hanging up Nashua's efforts to acquire Pennechuck, the question of who owns the company may be contested for some time.
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