October 15, 2018

U.S. District Court Judge Bianco granted DSB’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a security company owned by the former police chief of a village in the Hamptons. The lawsuit claimed that Village Mayor and a Village Trustee forced the police chief to divest himself of his ownership rights in the company in order to give a competitive edge to security businesses in which the Mayor and Trustee had financial interests. The Court found that Plaintiff’s claims of violations of its constitutional right to equal protection and due process and of federal conspiracy were time-barred. According to Judge Bianco, the alleged divestiture of the business, which took place in 2009, could not give rise to federal claims in 2017, long after the three-year limitations period expired. Although the Court gave Plaintiff the option of filing an amended complaint if it could allege wrongful acts within the limitations period, Plaintiff’s attorney informed the Court on October 15, 2018, that Plaintiff would not be amending the Complaint, thereby ending the lawsuit.