District Court Rules in Favor of Asphalt Company

A United States District Court Judge has ruled in favor of an asphalt company in its lawsuit against the Town of Seekonk, the Board of Selectmen, the Board of Health, and Bruce Hoch, a member of the town’s Planning Board.

Also named in the complaint were John Does 1 – 20, Jane Roes 1 – 10, and XYZ Corporations 1 – 10.

In December 2019, Plaintiffs International Paving Corp., Seekonk Asphalt Corp., and 45 Industrial, LLC purchased 4.81 acres of property in Seekonk with the intent to permit, construct, and operate an asphalt plant. The town’s Planning Board approved the site plan. However, the potential construction of the asphalt plant resulted in opposition from Seekonk residents and municipal officials.

“When the Town passed the Noisome Trade Regulation (bylaw), thereby effectively blocking the project, plaintiffs withdrew their Mass. (Department of Environmental Protection) permit applications, likely in recognition that continuing to pursue the permits would be futile and a waste of resources,” Judge Patti B. Saris wrote in her January 18 ruling.  “Thus, the Court finds that plaintiffs’ lack of a permit should not defeat plaintiffs’ plausible claim that it has a protected property interest by virtue of the zoning use freeze granted by the Seekonk Planning Board.”

 “We wholeheartedly agree with the Federal District Court, which concluded that Our Clients have stated their claim that the Town has unconstitutionally deprived them of their property rights and substantially interfered with their reasonable investment backed expectations with regard to the project,” Attorney Eric Brainsky said Tuesday. “Rather than working with our clients in developing this project, which would have created jobs and brought hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax revenue to the Town, the Town opted to take the unprecedented and unconstitutional conduct now before the Court, in order to appease the dissenting view of a minority of residents residing in the vicinity of the property.”

“Unfortunately, now the majority of the residents of Seekonk will have to foot the bill that will follow,” Brainsky continued. “We look forward to presenting our clients’ damages claims to the jury forthwith, where we anticipate proving that our clients are entitled to an award totaling well beyond seven figures.”

Town Administrator Shawn Cadime told the Reporter it is not the Town’s policy to comment on ongoing legal cases.