TTH Attorneys Christopher Gallagher, Paul Alexander and Brook Dirlam recently won summary judgment in the United Stated District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  The victory was obtained on behalf of a municipal client in an action involving the suicide of one of its employees.  The decedent took his life while he was being investigated by the municipality for certain workplace conduct.  The decedent’s estate filed suit against the municipality and township manager, claiming various constitutional violations surrounding the investigation.  The decedent’s representatives alleged that the investigation led to the decedent’s suicide.

After winning an early dismissal of Plaintiff’s Monell liability claim, and obtaining voluntary concessions from the Plaintiff with respect to various state law causes of actions, exhaustive discovery was conducted as to the alleged constitutional violations.  Following the conclusion of discovery, Attorneys Gallagher, Alexander and Dirlam moved for summary judgment, arguing that the Plaintiff could not proceed with the constitutional claims under a state-created danger theory because the suicide was not foreseeable, and because the investigation that was conducted was not unreasonable.  The United Stated District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania agreed with these arguments.  In disposing of the Motion for summary judgment, the Court concluded its analysis after examining the first prong of the Plaintiff’s claim, having determined that there was no evidence that the suicide was foreseeable to the municipality and its township manager.  As a result, the Court granted TTH’s Motion and entered summary judgment in favor of its client.

Questions about this case can be directed to Christopher Gallagher at (267) 861-7597 or cgallagher@tthlaw.com, or to Paul Alexander at (267) 861-7587 or palexander@tthlaw.com, or to Brook Dirlam at (412) 926-1438 or bdirlam@tthlaw.com.