MSW’s Construction and Litigation Team head Anthony Capasso swiftly extricated its client engineering firm who performed municipal engineering services in Pennsylvania. The case involved a developer’s failure to obtain approvals for the development of properties and claim that the rejection of approvals violated Equal Protection or Substantive Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Specifically, the developer believed it was unfairly treated, and that defendants’ rejection of development plans were driven by racial animus and with a goal of keeping minorities from living in the township. The developer alleged that the engineering firm hired on behalf of the township played a pivotal role in the township’s scheme to stop the developer from proceeding with its development plan.

MSW moved to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) based on the developer’s inability to set forth allegations of specific and consistent acts of racial discrimination by the engineering firm. MSW Construction and Litigation head Anthony Capasso crafted and delivered a multi-faceted argument centering on the developer’s lack of standing, the claims being barred by the two-year statute of limitations under 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 5524(2), and the claims being subject to qualified immunity. In its holding, the Court agreed with these arguments and held that the engineering firm’s acts on behalf of the municipality did not constitute discriminatory conduct but only prevented the developer from completing its project, as it would with any other similarly situated developer. Additionally, the Court held that the alleged discriminatory acts, even if true, were outside the statute of limitations and time barred.