March 1, 2022
PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Maryland - Today we accounced the filing of a federal civil rights lawsuit against Prince George's County and two public officials for depriving small business owner of equal protection under the law in business dealings at Iverson Mall in Temple Hills, MD.
According to the complaint, local businessman Randy Richardson leased 27,768 square feet of commercial space at Iverson Mall in January 2020. Richardson planned to open Town Hall Live—an entertainment business—at the location, and he expended significant amounts of time and resources preparing to do so. However, Mr. Richardson alleges that Prince George's County Department of Permitting, Inspection and Enforcement (DPIE) intentionally misguided him in the permitting process and engaged in ill-motivated enforcement actions against him, all in a calculated effort to prevent him from opening Town Hall Live. In doing so, DPIE deprived Richardson of his rights to equal protection and due process under the law, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 24 of the Declaration of Rights to the Maryland Constitution.