Yardley Settles Lawsuit Over Deleted Facebook Comment

YARDLEY BOROUGH, PA — A free speech lawsuit against borough officials who deleted a resident's comment from a Patch.com story on Facebook has been settled.

In a copy of the settlement obtained by Patch, Yardley Borough will have to pay $2,500 to Earl J. Markey III.

"The court's decision was a win for the First Amendment," said Markey, who filed the lawsuit in November 2022 after his comment criticizing a then-council member about the borough's budget was removed.

Patch had written a story that Yardley was facing a possible tax hike in its 2023 budget.

Markey, now a Republican candidate running for mayor, said Friday that the lawsuit was "amicably settled," ending a dispute that drew attention to free speech on government-run social media pages.

Borough Manager Paula Johnson flagged the comment as a personal attack and got permission from Council President Caroline Thompson to remove the post several hours later, according to court documents.

Patch sent an email to Johnson and Thompson seeking comment on Monday.

Markey won a write-in campaign in the May primary election as the Republican candidate to challenge Thompson, a Democrat, to run in November as the borough's next mayor.

The case stemmed from an October 2022 incident in which borough officials deleted Markey’s comment from the official “Yardley Boro” Facebook page.

In June, U.S. District Judge Mark A. Kearney ruled that “a resident undoubtedly enjoys the right to appropriately criticize his local borough government officials under the First Amendment without fear of government censure.”

He found that deleting the comment violated Markey’s clearly established First

Following the Yardley Borough Council’s vote in favor of the settlement at its meeting on Tuesday, the borough solicitor read the following statement:

“I would like to announce that Yardley Borough has reached an amicable settlement with Earl
Markey in the federal lawsuit Markey v. Thompson, case number 22-4307. The settlement
provides for payment of $2,500 to Mr. Markey and requires Yardley Borough to make this
statement during a borough council meeting. In 2022, Mr. Markey submitted a comment on the Borough’s official Facebook page regarding a ballot measure, and that comment was
subsequently removed by borough officials. The Borough and Mr. Markey have agreed to
resolve the lawsuit without any admission of liability. The settlement agreement is public and
will be made available upon request under the Right to Know Law. I would like to thank Mr.
Markey and our legal advisors for working collaboratively toward a productive resolution.
Yardley Borough reaffirms its dedication to fostering open dialogue and protecting everyone’s
First Amendment rights in Yardley Borough.”

Markey then made a public statement at the Borough Council meeting, encouraging council members to facilitate “robust debate in all forums” because “our Constitution is important and still alive today.”

He went on to admonish Thompson and Johnson for censorship and their unsuccessful attempt to avoid personal accountability by invoking qualified immunity.

Markey added that he hoped public officials might “reflect and learn a lesson from this.”

He concluded by encouraging members of the community “to think what [they] can do to respect others” and speech they “do not like.”

Thompson then thanked Markey for his “thoughtful and respectful comments.”

Markey said he will donate the monetary payment from the settlement to non-profit organizations.

Markey was responsible for getting a special question getting an election ballot question that year to reduce the council's size from seven to five. The referendum was rejected by voters.