MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Penn. – The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and Catherine M. “Kate” Harper of Timoney Knox, LLP, have filed a lawsuit against Upper Pottsgrove Township after the township filed a meritless Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation against a resident who used public records requests to advocate against the township’s attempts to develop permanently protected land.
Upper Pottsgrove Township resident Matthew Murray filed public records requests, under Pennsylvania’s Right To Know Law, to obtain records regarding the township’s development of permanently protected, public land and used those records in his advocacy and eventual litigation against the township. Mr. Murray’s lawsuit alleged that the township and its commissioners were violating the Pennsylvania Open Space Act through their efforts to develop the land. Mr. Murray used contracts, ordinances, checks, and other information he received through his Right To Know requests to prove his case at trial.
After Mr. Murray won his case, the township counter-sued Mr. Murray, seeking an injunction forbidding Mr. Murray from filing any further Right To Know requests. On June 2, 2025, the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County dismissed the township’s case, holding that the township had no legal basis to sue for an injunction preventing Mr. Murray from engaging in constitutionally protected public expression.
ACLU of Pennsylvania’s lawsuit against the township seeks to recoup the attorney fees that Mr. Murray incurred as a result of the township’s lawsuit against him.
“A cornerstone of our democracy is the right and ability to hold powerful entities, including governments, accountable when they do wrong,” said Sara Rose, deputy legal director at the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “The lawsuit filed against Mr. Murray was nothing more than an effort to silence him as a result of his effective, constitutionally protected advocacy. Thankfully, Pennsylvania law gives us the tools to push back when government or others attempt to weaponize the courts to punish speech they do not like.”
The Pennsylvania legislature passed anti-SLAPP legislation in 2024.
You can read the full lawsuit at https://www.aclupa.org/cases/murray-v-upper-pottsgrove-township/
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