Corneal v. Jackson Tp., Huntingdon County, Pa.
| Decision Date | 28 July 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. CIV.1:CV-00-1192.,CIV.1:CV-00-1192. |
| Citation | 313 F.Supp.2d 457 |
| Parties | David B. CORNEAL and Sandra Y. Corneal, Plaintiffs v. JACKSON TOWNSHIP, HUNTINGDON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, et al. Defendants |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Pennsylvania |
Adam M. Shienvold, Bridget E. Montgomery, Charles M. Suhr, Ronald M. Lucas, Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC, Harrisburg, PA, for Plaintiffs.
Anthony R. Sherr, Mayers, Menneis & Sherr, LLP, Blue Bell, PA, for Defendants.
Before the court are Defendants' renewed motion for summary judgment and Plaintiffs' motion for partial reconsideration of the court's order of December 23, 2002. The parties have briefed the issues, and the matters are now ripe for disposition.
Plaintiffs, David and Sandra Corneal ("the Corneals"), filed this case alleging the following: violations of their rights pursuant to the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution (Count I); that Defendants engaged in a civil conspiracy in violation of Pennsylvania common law (Count II); that Defendants intentionally interfered with the Corneals' contractual relations (Count III); and that Defendants' actions violated the Pennsylvania Constitution (Count IV). Defendants in this action include the following: (1) Jackson Township, Pennsylvania; (2) W. Thomas Wilson; (3) Michael Yoder; (4) Ralph Wiler; (5) Ann L. Wirth, Jackson Township Secretary; (6) David Van Dommelen, Jackson Township's building permit officer; and (7) Barry Parks, Sewage Enforcement Officer for Jackson Township. Defendants Wilson, Yoder, and Wiler are members of the Jackson Township Board of Supervisors ("the Board"). The court has subject matter jurisdiction over this action based on 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1367.
Construing all genuine disputes of fact in favor of the Corneals, the non-moving party, the following constitutes the relevant factual background to the instant motions. In 1998, the Corneals, who reside in State College, Pennsylvania, acquired a ninety-five acre tract of land located in Jackson Township, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. The property had previously been part of the estate of Defendant Wilson's grandfather. When the Corneals purchased the property, a house and a barn were already located on it. The Corneals planned to subdivide and sell a portion of the tract. To assist them in obtaining approval from the Township, the Corneals had the tract surveyed and prepared a subdivision plan. The Corneals also hired Defendant Parks, the Township's Sewage Enforcement Officer ("SEO"), to test the tract's suitability for an on-site septic system. Defendant Parks located suitable sites on the tract. After identifying the suitable septic sites, the Corneals hired Defendant Wilson's private firm, Eagle Excavation, to conduct percolation tests. The tests were successful, and the Corneals paid Eagle Excavation for its services. At the time Defendant Wilson's firm performed the percolation tests, the Township had not enacted a moratorium on land use subdivision. After receiving the proposed sewage modules from the Corneals' agent, David Simpson, Defendant Parks reviewed and signed them.
During August and September of 1999, the Corneals prepared a subdivision plan and marketed one of the lots, a twenty-five acre tract, on which sat the pre-existing house and barn. On October 7, 1999, the Corneals entered into a contract to sell the tract for $150,000 to John Hewett, Jr. and Joann Smith ("the Buyers"). In accordance with the contract's terms, the Buyers submitted a down payment of $4,000 and agreed to pay $500 per month against the purchase price until settlement, scheduled for June 30, 2000.
During this period, Jackson Township did not have a subdivision ordinance to govern the development of land.1 However, at its meeting in January of 2000, the Board, by unanimous vote, decreed a temporary moratorium on subdividing property pending the enactment of a formal ordinance governing subdivision and land development. The moratorium was not enacted pursuant to a resolution or any other formal action. It merely appeared in the meeting's minutes. Besides its appearance in the meeting minutes, no other documents exist relating to the moratorium.
The Corneals presented their original subdivision plan to the Board at the Township meeting in February of 2000. The plan indicated that the original ninety-five acre tract would be subdivided into three lots. On the largest of those lots, the Corneals planned to build their own home. Because of the newly-imposed moratorium, Defendants Wilson, Yoder, and Wiler refused to review the Corneals' subdivision plan. Within several days of the Board's refusal to review the plan, the Corneals submitted the plan to the Huntingdon County Planning Commission ("CPC"), pursuant to the Board members' advice. The CPC reviewed the plan and, by way of a letter dated February 24, 2000, provided comments and recommendations. The CPC recommended that the Township deny approval of the plan in light of the Township's pending subdivision ordinance and the moratorium against subdividing property.
At the Board's meeting on April 3, 2000 Mr. Corneal requested that the Board sign five sewage modules. The Board, however, refused to do so. Mr. Corneal then stated that he was no longer planning on subdividing his property, but that he needed the sewage modules to obtain a building permit to begin construction of his own home. The Board, however, refused to issue five sewage modules for one house.2 Moreover, the Board claimed that if they were to sign the sewage modules, that would be the same as permitting the Corneals to build their house, and that this would constitute a subdivision, prohibited by the moratorium, because the tract already had an existing dwelling located on it.
Mr. Corneal then requested a privy permit so that he could begin construction of his two story garage and art studio. The Board members, however, indicated that they were not permitted to issue privy permits; that the Corneals would have to get that from Defendant Parks, the SEO. After that meeting, Mr. Corneal called Defendant Parks and requested a privy permit. Defendant Parks indicated that Defendant Wirth had called him and instructed him not to issue the Corneals a privy permit. However, during his deposition, Defendant Parks indicated that he was without authority to issue the Corneals a privy permit, which — according to state regulations — could only be issued to lots subdivided before 1972 and which did not have piped and running water connected to any other structure on the lot. Because the Corneals' tract had an existing structure on it with piped and running water, Defendant Parks would be unable to issue a privy permit to the Corneals.3 The Corneals then called Larry Newton, an attorney and Township Solicitor, to discuss the situation, but the Corneals did not receive a substantive response.
The Corneals revised the plan in hopes of receiving approval. They developed a new plan that reflected not three lots, but only two. One of these lots would be sold to the Buyers under the terms of their already existing contract with the Corneals. The other lot would contain the residual amount of land, approximately sixty-nine acres, on which the Corneals would build a house, an art studio, and a garage. The Corneals submitted the revised plan to the CPC. On April 20, 2000, the CPC recommended conditional approval by the Township, pending adoption of the proposed land development ordinance. The CPC found that the revised plan appeared to conform to the proposed ordinance. The Corneals, however, never submitted the revised two-lot subdivision plan to the Township. According to Mr. Corneal, he felt that such a submission would be futile due to the Township's moratorium. (See Corneal Depo. at p. 114.)
Wanting to begin developing the land, the Corneals constructed a one and a half (1.5) mile driveway through the tract at some point in the Spring of 2000. The Corneals originally requested Defendant Wilson's firm, Eagle Excavation, do the work. However, Defendant Wilson later refused the job. While constructing the driveway, the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection approached the chosen contractor to investigate a complaint that the Corneals were violating wetlands regulations. The complaint was found to be without merit. The Corneals contend that Defendants Wilson and/or Defendant Wirth filed the complaint.
Next, Mr. Corneal went to Defendant Van Dommelen, the Township's Building Permit Officer, to obtain a building permit for his garage. Defendant Van Dommelen, however, refused to issue the permit because the Board had instructed him not to issue any permits to the Corneals. Defendant Van Dommelen even called Defendant Wilson, in Mr. Corneal's presence. During that conversation, Defendant Wilson told Defendant Van Dommelen: "don't you dare issue [David Corneal] a permit." (Wilson Depo. at p. 128.) Defendant Van Dommelen, however, had granted every other building permit application submitted to him in 2000. (Van Dommelen Depo. at p. 103.) Although Defendant Van Dommelen never refused to provide any other person in the Township with a permit, he refused to even provide the Corneals with a permit application. (See id. at p. 56.) During his conversations with Mr. Corneal, Defendant Van Dommelen referred to Mr. Corneal as a "trouble making yuppie from over the mountain." (Id. at p. 71.) He used this term to describe Mr. Corneal because Mr. Corneal "just behaves like someone who wants to get their own way and his age group." (Id. at p. 73.)
On May 1, 2000, the Corneals received a letter from the Buyers' attorney. The letter informed the Corneals that the Buyers had terminated the agreement to purchase the tract due to difficulties with the Township in obtaining subdivision appr...
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