C&W attorneys, Philip Sbrolla and Mark Hamilton, obtained the entry of summary judgment in a complex civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and civil rights dispute for a local municipality, elected officials and Township employees.  The Plaintiffs, a sophisticated real estate developer and his companies sought to develop a strip mall adjacent to a major state road.  The applications for the development were denied by the Township based upon Plaintiffs failure to abide by an official map and failure to mitigate the increased traffic associated with the development. 

Plaintiffs filed a federal civil RICO and civil rights action alleging that the Township conspired with a national retail mall developer to require that they pay for infrastructure improvements that were not required for their proposed development.  In granting summary judgment the District Court went so far as to state that the evidence advanced by the Plaintiffs was “woefully deficient” failing to support any of the elements of their alleged RICO claims.  The District Court, in its 70 page opinion also dismissed Plaintiffs’ Section 1983 procedural due process, substantive due process and equal protection claims under the Fourteenth Amendment.