The United States Court for the District of Massachusetts recently dismissed federal civil rights claims brought against the Town of Monroe and several of its officials. The plaintiffs alleged that they had been wrongfully evicted from a mill building that housed a commercial research and development laboratory. According to the plaintiffs, town officials knew that their assertion that the building was unsafe was untrue.
The plaintiffs claimed one million dollars in damages based on alleged disruption of existing business, lost business opportunities, the value of lost equipment, and lost income. Plaintiffs brought claims for alleged violation of their Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, particularly their Fourteenth Amendment procedural due process rights. The court held that the availability of a post deprivation remedy precluded plaintiffs’ procedural due process claims and that no viable Fourth Amendment claim was stated in the complaint.
For more information regarding Slavas, et al. v. Town of Monroe, et al., please contact Nancy Frankel Pelletier, Esquire or David S. Lawless, Esquire.