MIDDLESEX TWP — Reaction to the dismissal of a lawsuit against the challengers to a zoning ruling that allows shale gas development in most of the township was predictable Friday.

The winners like it and the losers do not.

Butler County Judge Marilyn Horan on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the developer Dewey Homes and Investment Properties and several residents who are shale gas lease holders.

The suit claims that the Clean Air Council, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, and five residents who challenged a decision by the township zoning board to uphold the zoning amendment was meant to delay the completion of certain gas wells and deprive landowners of the income they could derive from their leases.

Witold Walczak, legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union, argued before Horan on Sept. 17 that the suit constituted a SLAPP suit, or strategic lawsuit against public participation.

Walczak said the group could not be sued for exercising their constitutional right to disagree with governmental action.

Horan dismissed the suit because she said it did not contain enough specifics that connected the defendants to any unlawful actions.

Horan gave the plaintiffs 20 days to file an amended complaint.

“(The suit) claimed our clients acted outrageously, but they forgot to provide any details on their wrongdoing,” Walczak said Friday. “The only thing the defendants did was exercise First Amendment right to lobby the government, and they can’t be sued for that.”

Walczak guessed that the plaintiffs would be embarrassed if they had to lay out the conduct they say is illegal on the part of the defendants.

Alex Bomstein, a senior litigation attorney for the Clean Air Council, said Friday that attorneys on the defendants’ side were left to try and figure out what the lawsuit was talking about because it was so vague.

“I’m glad to see the judge made what we feel is the right decision on this,” Bomstein said.

He said because Judge Horan ruled to dismiss the suit due to the lack of specificity in the complaint, she did not need to declare it a SLAPP suit or comment on whether the defendants’ constitutional rights were violated.

Jean Utz, who was one of 12 homeowner plaintiffs in the suit, said her disappointment in Horan’s decision is not related to any potential loss of money in royalties.

“I’m worried about a handful of people telling me what I can and can’t do with my property,” Utz said. “I’m very disappointed in the whole system, I really am, but I don’t know that there’s anything we can do about it.”

David Denk, one of the residents who challenged the ordinance, declined to comment on Horan’s decision because the plaintiffs still can file an amended complaint.

Ronald Amrhein, attorney for the plaintiffs, did not return phone calls Friday, so it is not known if a new complaint will be filed.