Jun 15, 2011 2 min read

A Farmington couple filed a federal lawsuit against Wharton Township, one of its supervisors and others, claiming their constitutional rights were violated during the course of a 2009 property dispute.

Dr. Robert Bigham, and his wife, Winifred Bigham, own property at 47 Marker Road in the township, according to the lawsuit.

The suit names the township, Supervisor James Means, state police Trooper Nicholas Jordan and Landis Livingood, who lives at 22 Marker Road in Farmington. Livingood is the caretaker of property owned by his daughter, Lynn Norton, and his son-in-law, Gary Norton. That property borders the Bighams’ property, according to the filing.

Previously, the Bighams filed a lawsuit in Fayette County Court to settle a dispute about the property line between their land and the Nortons’ land, and in 2006, the matter was settled in their favor, according to the suit.

Judge John F. Wagner Jr., who heard that case, entered an order that stopped the Nortons from trespassing on the Bighams’ property. The suit contended that Livingood attended the trial, and knew what the order said.

The newly filed federal suit stated that the Nortons rented their property to a man who was not told of the order that would have precluded them — and the renter — from trespassing on the Bighams’ property.

For more information, see Thursday’s Herald-Standard.