AUGUSTIN et al v. City of Philadelphia

Filing 105

DECISION AND ORDER THAT PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR FINAL DECLARATORY AND FINAL INTERIM INJUNCTIVE RELIEF (DOC. NO. 66 ), IS GRANTED AS OUTLINED HEREIN. SIGNED BY HONORABLE J. CURTIS JOYNER ON 1/4/2016. 1/5/2016 ENTERED AND COPIES E-MAILED.(amas)

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

LEA AUGUSTIN, GERARD AUGUSTIN,
THOMAS MCSORLEY, DONNA MCSORLEY
RICHMOND WATERFRONT INDUSTRIAL
PARK, LLC

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: CIVIL ACTION
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: NO. 14-CV-4238
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Plaintiffs
vs.
CITY OF PHILADELPHIA
Defendant

ORDER

AND NOW, this

4th

day of January, 2017, upon

consideration of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Final Declaratory and
Final and Interim Injunctive Relief (Doc. No. 66), it is hereby
ORDERED that the Motion is GRANTED as follows:
1.

Defendant City of Philadelphia and its wholly-owned gas

utility, PGW, are hereby PERMANENTLY ENJOINED from filing any
liens on real property to enforce unpaid charges for natural gas
service, where such service, according to PGW’s records, was
provided to a residential or commercial customer other than the
owner of the property targeted for the lien using its current
methods and procedures for doing so.

Such liening activity may

resume if Defendant, in accordance with the U.S. Constitution and
by and/or through ordinance or regulation, provides property
owners with (a) meaningful notice of the facts underlying the

decision to impose a lien which is (b) delivered at a
sufficiently early time as to enable the property owner to
resolve the problem before the account delinquency grows
unnecessarily, and (c) provides the property owner with an
administrative opportunity to obtain all relevant facts and have
all factual disputes resolved before the lien is imposed.
2.

Any existing gas liens currently of record which were

imposed on properties for unpaid gas charges incurred by a class
member’s tenant (hereafter “Covered Liens”) are declared invalid,
null, and void.
3.

Defendant City of Philadelphia and its wholly-owned gas

utility, PGW, are DIRECTED to take all steps necessary to vacate
(a) all Covered Liens related to commercial gas accounts and (b)
all Covered Liens related to residential accounts on properties
that, at any time from 2009 to the present were listed in the
database of the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Licenses and
Inspections as having a then-active rental license.
4.

Defendant City of Philadelphia and its wholly-owned gas

utility, PGW, are PERMANENTLY ENJOINED from collecting or
attempting to collect Covered Liens, including through the
communication of any payoff demand to a settlement or title agent
related to a Covered Lien at the time a property is being sold or
refinanced.
5.

Defendant City of Philadelphia and its wholly-owned gas

utility, PGW are DIRECTED to refund all monies that were

collected on account of Covered Liens subsequent to this Court’s
Order of May 4, 2016.
BY THE COURT:

s/J. Curtis Joyner
J. CURTIS JOYNER,

J.