A Lackawanna County judge blocked the county Democratic Committee from removing 76 elected members and from filling any vacancies that would be created by their removal before appeals processes established by the committee’s local bylaws and the bylaws of the Pennsylvania State Democratic Committee conclude.

Judge Terrence R. Nealon also blocked the county committee from holding a planned reorganization meeting July 7, absent further orders from the court.

Nealon signed an order Monday granting a preliminary injunction sought by 13 of the 76 elected committee members who received letters advising them they’re ineligible to serve because they supported independent candidates in recent special or general elections. The letters, signed by outgoing committee Chairman Chris Patrick, cite a rule in the committee’s local bylaws that disqualifies anyone who financially or otherwise supported “a candidate … opposed to the duly nominated candidate of the Democratic Party” from serving as a committee member or officer.

It comes after several longtime Democrats ran unsuccessfully against official party nominees as independent candidates last year, when a factional civil war among local Democrats erupted over the process of filling former Democratic Commissioner Matt McGloin’s vacant seat. The letters are the latest salvo in that intraparty conflict.

Nealon’s order stems from a petition for injunctive relief attorney Tim Kelly of Needle Law PC, himself an elected Democratic committeeman for Newton Twp., filed on behalf of plaintiffs James Dougherty, Sherry Dougherty, Russell J. Caspe, Germaine Carey, Peter J. Cosgrove, Ashley Y. DeFlice, Susan E. Hennemuth, Joseph C. Farley, Paul Friedman, Amanda Friedman, Alexis McFarland, Margaux O. Bonin and William J. O’Malley III. All 13 are elected committee members targeted for removal.

The injunction suit names the county Democratic Committee and Patrick, who isn’t seeking reelection as chairman, as defendants.

Nealon’s order granting the preliminary injunction, some of which is handwritten, does not yet list a date and time for a hearing in the matter, which was reassigned to Nealon after Judge Michael J. Barrasse recused himself.

Patrick in a text message said he had yet to see the order as of about 6 p.m. Monday.

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