Todd v. Derry Township

CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 2, 2025
Docket1:25-cv-00435
StatusUnknown

This text of Todd v. Derry Township (Todd v. Derry Township) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Todd v. Derry Township, (M.D. Pa. 2025).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

JASON R. TODD, : Civil No. 1:25-CV-435 : Plaintiff, : : (Chief Judge Brann) v. : : (Chief Magistrate Judge Bloom) DERRY TOWNSHIP, et al., : : Defendants. :

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

I. Factual Background

This case comes before us for a screening review of the plaintiff’s amended complaint.1 (Doc. 278). The plaintiff, Jason Todd, filed this action against Derry Township, Selective Insurance Company, and various individual employees of these entities on March 10, 2025. (Doc. 1). Todd also filed a motion for leave to proceed , which was granted by the court. (Docs. 2, 28). Magistrate Judge Schwab performed a screening review of Todd’s complaint pursuant to 28 U.S.C.

1 This matter was initially assigned to Magistrate Judge Schwab, and the parties consented to magistrate judge jurisdiction. (Doc. 68). The matter has been reassigned to Chief Judge Brann and referred to the undersigned for further consideration of the plaintiff’s amended complaint. (Doc. 413). § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) and found that the complaint failed to state a claim but permitted Todd an opportunity to file an amended complaint. (Doc. 276).

On May 12, 2025, Todd filed an amended complaint and attached exhibits, which is currently the operative pleading. (Doc. 278). Todd’s amended complaint raises claims of First Amendment

retaliation and Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection and Due Process violations pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a Racketeer Influenced

and Corrupt Organizations (“RICO”) Act violation and a state law claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress. (Doc. 278 at 3-4). Todd’s claims arise out of an incident in September of 2024 in Derry Township,

Pennsylvania when he was assaulted by an individual named William Shoemaker. ( at 3). Todd claims that he suffered a traumatic brain injury from this assault, and that despite evidence of this injury being

provided to the Derry Township Police Department, Shoemaker was only charged with and pleaded guilty to summary harassment. ( ). Todd believes that Derry Township suppressed evidence of his

injuries and mishandled the investigation. (Doc. 278 at 3). He further claims that certain individual defendants engaged in retaliatory and harassing behavior toward him, including issuing him a cease and desist letter, which caused him severe psychological distress. ( ). Todd also asserts that Derry Township denied his Right to Know requests in 2020

and 2024, which he claims “block[ed] access to key evidence.” ( ). With respect to the insurance defendants, Todd alleges that these defendants issued him improper correspondence and ignored his claims. ( ).

Based on these averments, Todd asserts a First Amendment retaliation claim against Defendant Armstrong; an Equal Protection and

Due Process claim against all defendants; a RICO claim against the individual insurance defendants, Defendant Armstrong, and Derry Township; and a state law claim of intentional infliction of emotional

distress against all defendants. (Doc. 278 at 3-4). As relief, Todd seeks monetary damages, as well as declaratory and injunctive relief. ( at 4).

After review, we conclude that the plaintiff’s amended complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Accordingly, we recommend that the amended complaint be dismissed. II. Discussion

A. Screening of Complaints – Standard of Review We have a statutory obligation to preliminarily review complaints brought by plaintiffs given leave to proceed .

28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii). We review such complaints to determine whether there are frivolous or malicious claims, or if the

complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. This statutory preliminary screening mirrors review under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which provides for dismissal of a

complaint for “failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). With respect to this legal benchmark, under federal pleading

standards a plaintiff is required to set forth a “short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). In determining whether a complaint states a claim for relief

under this pleading standard, a court must accept the factual allegations in the complaint as true, , 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007), and accept “all reasonable inferences that can be drawn from

them after construing them in the light most favorable to the non- movant.” , 20 F.3d 1250, 1261 (3d Cir. 1994). However, a court is not required to accept legal

conclusions or “a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action.” ; , 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (“Threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory

statements, do not suffice”). As the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has aptly summarized:

[A]fter , when presented with a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, district courts should conduct a two- part analysis. First, the factual and legal elements of a claim should be separated. The District Court must accept all of the complaint’s well-pleaded facts as true, but may disregard any legal conclusions. Second, a District Court must then determine whether the facts alleged in the complaint are sufficient to show that the plaintiff has a “plausible claim for relief.” at 1950. In other words, a complaint must do more than allege the plaintiff’s entitlement to relief. A complaint has to “show” such an entitlement with its facts. , 515 F.3d at 234–35. As the Supreme Court instructed in , “[w]here the well-pleaded facts do not permit the court to infer more than the mere possibility of misconduct, the complaint has alleged—but it has not ‘show[n]’—‘that the pleader is entitled to relief.’ ” , 129 S.Ct. at 1949. This “plausibility” determination will be “a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense.”

, 578 F.3d 203, 210-11 (3d Cir. 2009). Generally, when considering a motion to dismiss, a court relies on the complaint and its attached exhibits, as well as matters of public

record. , 502 F.3d 263, 268 (3d Cir. 2007). A court can also consider “undisputedly authentic document[s] that a defendant attached as an exhibit to a motion to dismiss if the plaintiff’s claims are

based on the [attached] documents.” , 998 F.2d 1192, 1196 (3d Cir. 1993). Additionally,

if the complaint relies on the contents of a document not physically attached to the complaint but whose authenticity is not in dispute, the court may consider such document in its determination.

, 288 F.3d 548, 560 (3d Cir. 2002).

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