Massachusetts: Marlboro Airport (9B1) owner sues Secret Service for damage from Obama visit.

The owner of Marlboro Airport filed suit against the U.S. Secret Service yesterday seeking payment for damage he says was caused when President Barack Obama's elaborate security entourage descended on his small private airstrip last year.

The suit, filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act in U.S. District Court in Worcester, claims Secret Service vehicles caused about $676,000 in property damage to the airport.

Obama landed on April 1, 2010, in a Marine helicopter before heading via motorcade to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency bunker in Framingham. The region at the time was dealing with widespread flooding.

Airport owner Robert Stetson said last night that he had a lawyer file the suit because previous attempts to work with the Secret Service to solve the problems had been unsuccessful.

Stetson said after the visit, he sent the Secret Service a claim for damages through the Navy, which wrote back saying it needed more information about the damage. Stetson said he provided that.

Then, on May 28, 2011, Stetson said he received a letter from the Secret Service saying his claim had been denied and that officials there had found no evidence of negligence or wrongdoing by the Secret Service.

The suit, filed by Framingham attorney Evans J. Carter, claims that Marlboro Airport was assured by Marine Helicopter Squadron One that the helicopters would not damage the airport runway, which has a 9,000-pound clearance. The suit does not claim that those helicopters did, in fact, cause damage.

Instead, the suit claims that supporting ground vehicles, which had not been cleared to drive on the runway, caused damage to paved areas of the airport runway and taxiways and also significant damage to turf or grass areas on the property.

Stetson said several vehicles were driven on the property, including "giant Cadillacs," police cars and sport utility vehicles. The suit also claims that a 44,000-pound "foam truck" was driven onto the property.

The suit argues that the Secret Service was negligent by failing to verify load limits at the airport and by allowing too much heavy equipment to be driven onto the property.

In addition to the $676,000, the airport is also seeking legal fees. The complaint demands a jury trial.

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