A FEDERAL judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit charging that the Empire State Development Corp. retaliated against a bidder for a 460-acre parcel on Long Island.

Southern District Judge Kimba Wood said that the would-be purchaser of the former Pilgrim State Psychiatric Center in Brentwood, Reckson Operating Partnership, sufficiently stated a First Amendment claim based on Empire’s alleged refusal to sell Reckson the land unless it dropped a lawsuit in state court against the agency.