Scott Twp. reached a tentative settlement with a woman who challenged an ordinance that would force her to allow a family to access a purported grave site on her property.
The agreement, reached Tuesday, ends a more than eight-year legal dispute with Rose Mary Knick that led to a precedent-setting U.S. Supreme Court ruling that will impact landowners’ rights nationwide.
Knick filed a federal lawsuit against the township that challenged a 2012 ordinance regulating access to private cemeteries. The township took the action after resident Robert Vail complained Knick would not let him visit the graves of several relatives, including a Revolutionary War hero, he claims are buried on a section of her Country Club Road property.
Full details of the settlement were not available Thursday because it has not yet been finalized. Knick’s attorney, J. David Breemer, of the Pacific Legal Foundation, said part of the deal calls for the township to rescind the ordinance.
Knick’s lawsuit argued the ordinance was unconstitutional. Mark Kozlowski, the township’s attorney, said the township believes the ordinance would have stood up to the constitutional challenge had the case gone to trial. The issue is essentially moot, however, because Pennsylvania enacted a law in December 2017, that mandates citizens be given access to cemeteries. The law, Act 64, trumps the township’s ordinance, he said.
“The township saw value in resolving this matter because it allows both the township and Miss Knick to finally get closure on what has been an almost decade-long legal battle,” Kozlowski said.
The settlement was reached following a mediation conference with U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph Saporito. Senior U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo is expected to issue an order giving the parties 60 days to finalize the deal.
The local legal dispute took on national significance based on the underlying legal principle at stake relating to the steps a landowner must take to challenge a government action.
Knick argued the township’s ordinance equated to an illegal taking of her property, which means it would have to compensate her. Caputo dismissed the suit in 2016, citing prior court rulings that said a landowner first had to file suit in state court.
The Pacific Legal Foundation, a California-based, non-profit group that advocates for landowners’ rights, took on the case at no charge to Knick
The organization argued the prior court rulings forced landowners to undertake an overly burdensome process. The Supreme Court agreed. In a 5-4 ruling issued in June, it overturned Caputo’s ruling. The decision means landowners can now immediately file suit in federal court.
Kozlowski said the settlement does not affect the Supreme Court ruling.
Contact the writer: tbesecker@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9137; @tmbeseckerTT on Twitter