Delaware Lawmaker Loses Bid to Revive Lawsuit Over City Property

A Delaware lawmaker who owns a house damaged by a fire that started in an adjacent city-owned dwelling has lost her bid to revive a federal lawsuit.

Rep. Stephanie Bolden, a Wilmington Democrat, claimed that the city repeatedly ignored her complaints before the fire about vagrancy, drug use and other conditions at the vacant city property that negatively affected her own. She claimed the city was negligent, and that its failure to act violated her constitutional rights and deprived her of her property without due process.

A federal judge tossed the lawsuit in January. On Tuesday, he refused to give Bolden 60 days to gather new information and file an amended complaint. Bolden claimed the information would show a pattern of the city ignoring complaints and not repairing its properties.