J.P. Mascaro & Sons, the trash and recycling collection vendor for Whitemarsh Township, filed an Action of Declaratory Judgement against the township on March 15, 2021.

In the court filing, Mascaro states that Whitemarsh Township made and had admitted to a mistake in its 2019 bid documents on how it counted the homes that required collection of trash and recycling. Mascaro claims that the original number was 6,500 and that language in the bid documents did allow for a reduction or increase in fees on an annual basis if the number went up and down.

However, Mascaro claims that its bid for the work was based on the 6,500 originally provided and that once the township realized its mistake it reduced the number of homes by 986 (a new total of 5,514) and began withholding a portion of its monthly fee to reflect this. Mascaro estimates that if the deductions were to continue over the potential five-year life of the contract (three years with a possible two-year extension) the deductions would total $1,347,426.

Whitemarsh Township’s attorney, Sean Kilkenny, responded to the lawsuit on April 5th and argued that the township reduced the number of homes at the appropriate time as specified by the contract.

The township also made counterclaims of Breach of Contract and Unjust Enrichment.

Read Mascaro’s Action of Declaratory Judgement here.

Read Whitemarsh’s response here.