PITTSBURGH – A Western Pennsylvania real estate company, its owner and his sister-in-law claim to have been harassed and received disparate treatment when applying for home demolition and construction permits, based on the owner plaintiff having a disability.
Cassidy Brothers Real Estate Development Company, Terrance L. Cassidy Sr. and Helen Cassidy of Allegheny County filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on May 20, versus Scott Township and its Commissioner William Wells.
Plaintiff Terrance Cassidy is a permanently disabled individual due to injuries he has sustained including, but not limited to, a spinal cord injury who has allegedly suffered ongoing harassment for the past nine years, the suit says.
Terrance claims for no apparent reason, he was singled out to receive “excessive and unnecessary notices of code violations from defendant Township regarding a property that was part of his parent’s estate and located in Defendant Township, which he purchased in or about 2017.”
“Despite defendant Wells’ actual knowledge of plaintiff Terrance’s disability, defendant Wells has made statements to individuals in the community on multiple occasions that plaintiff T. Cassidy is not disabled. These statements were, and are, materially false,” according to the lawsuit.
“Defendant Wells has also communicated his animosity toward plaintiff T. Cassidy and/or plaintiff T. Cassidy’s disability to multiple members of the community, including, but not limited to, making statements such he “wishes [plaintiff T. Cassidy] would die.”
In or about May of 2018, the residence located on plaintiff Helen Cassidy and her husband Patrick Cassidy’s property in Scott Township was destroyed due to a fire. Patrick is Terrance’s brother.
Shortly thereafter, Helen and Patrick contracted the plaintiff company to demolish the remaining structure and build their home on this property. Terrance then applied for a permit with Scott Township to demolish the remaining structure on his brother and sister-in-law’s property.
However, Scott Township did not issue a permit to demolish the structure for approximately four to six weeks, while other individuals applying for similar demolition permits were allegedly granted them in a far shorter time period. The plaintiffs allege that Terrance’s disability was the reason for the disparate treatment.
That was followed by Terrance applying for a permit with Scott Township to construct a new home on Helen and Patrick Cassidy’s property and presented insurance information to the defendants for said work.
“At or around this time, plaintiff company entered into several business relationships involving the build on the property, including, but not limited to, contracting agreements with Christian Miele to perform electrical work on the property and Frank Hutchison to install the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system,” the suit says.
“Shortly thereafter, defendant Wells made false allegations to defendant Township’s manager that Terrance Cassidy as an individual, and not defendant company, was executing the build on Helen and Patrick’s property and that Terrance did not have the proper insurance for the demolition and/or building. These allegations were, and are, materially false.”
Terrance says he was required to sign a contract outlining the timeline for the build in August 2018, something other applicants were not required to do, and the permit wasn’t issued until the following month. In the process, the plaintiffs suffered significant financial losses.
After Patrick’s death in November 2018, defendant Township allegedly began citing Helen for an unsafe structure on her property in May 2019, a structure which the suit says is non-existent.
“Terrance Cassidy appeared in magistrate court approximately nine times from May to October of 2019 as a direct and proximate result of the letters and/or citations issued to Helen Cassidy for the non-existent structure on her property. As a direct and proximate result of the actions of defendant Township and/or defendant Wells, plaintiffs have suffered significant financial loss and emotional distress,” the suit states.
The plaintiff is represented by Joel S. Sansone of the Law Office of Joel Sansone, in Pittsburgh.
The defendants have not yet secured legal counsel.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 2:20-cv-00744
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com