NJ Supreme Court Hears Arguments On Dune Case
On May 13, 2013, the Supreme Court heard argument in the case of Borough of Harvey Cedars v. Karan. That case is on appeal from an Appellate Division decision, which affirmed a jury verdict awarding the property owners $375,000 as constitutional just compensation for the partial taking of their private beach-front property. The municipality appealed the award, arguing that it was legal error for the court to prevent the jury from hearing evidence regarding an alleged “special benefit” the property received by installation of a sand dune.
While this case was tried to the jury and affirmed on appeal long before Super Storm Sandy struck her devastating blow on the mid-Atlantic coastline, the argument did not appear to be limited to the “record below” as is standard operating procedure for Appellate tribunals in New Jersey.
The property owners’ attorney argued that there was no evidence in the appellate record that there was any “special benefit” that could be attributed to the presence or absence of dunes recognized by the market in transactions involving comparable beach-front property. Buyers and sellers of property, of course, pay a premium for beach-front property and the market data clearly evidences such premiums. But again, there was no evidence that a dune, per se, had any effect on market value. At trial, there was, of course, evidence that values would be impacted down-ward when the property owners lost their view of the ocean, and their former private beach would be then become accessible by the general public.
The reason why the trial court ruled that the award of just compensation should not be tainted with speculative evidence of the value of a purported “special benefit” was because the alleged benefit was not special or unique to the owner – the dunes were designed to protect the entire island from storm surges – a quintessential general benefit.
We’ll post up the Supreme Court’s opinion when available, and a link to the argument itself will soon be on line.
Related articles
- NJ Supreme Court Wades Into Dune Debate (wnyc.org)
- Dune-protection appeal goes to N.J. high court (philly.com)
- NJ Supreme Court hears beach dune case (newsday.com)
- State officials keeping close watch on Harvey Cedars dune case before Supreme Court (nj.com)
- Mantoloking (NJ) Contemplates Use of Eminent Domain for Dune Easements (njcondemnationlaw.com)
