BLOG: Court Decisions
Court OKs Governor’s Executive Order Concerning Security Deposits
A New Jersey appellate court has upheld Governor Phil Murphy’s Executive Order No. 128, which permits residential tenants to use their security deposits to pay rent during the COVID 19 pandemic. The Executive Order, entered in April 2020, was one of many entered since last March in response to the economic and public health crises... Read More
PennEast Pipeline Prevails Because State Consented to Taking Under the “Plan of the Constitutional Convention” in 1787
In a 5-4 decision issued yesterday, the United States Supreme Court answered the question “whether the Federal Government can constitutionally confer on pipeline companies the authority to condemn necessary rights-of way in which a State has an interest. We hold that it can.” The full text of the opinion is here. By way of recap,... Read More
Cedar Point Nursery – Per Se Taking Found by United States Supreme Court
[Photo Credit – NY Times 6-23-21] The US Supreme Court decided a takings case in favor of a property owner yesterday. Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, ___ U.S. ___ (2021). The Court found that there was a per se taking where governmental regulation permitted union organizers limited access to private farm property. The full... Read More
Arby’s Exception to the Jury View Rule?
A favorable jury verdict in a Kentucky takings case was recently reversed because the trial court refused the condemnor’s request that the jury view the property. A copy of the opinion is here. Under Kentucky law, the jury “shall be sent by the court, in the charge of the sheriff, to view the land” upon... Read More
US Supreme Court Alert – PennEast Pipeline Cert Petition Granted !
All you SCOTUS watchers already know the news, but yesterday the United States Supreme Court granted PennEast Pipeline Company’s petition for certiorari. Petition GRANTED. In addition to the question presented by the petition, the parties are directed to brief and argue the following question: Did the Court of Appeals properly exercise jurisdiction over this case?... Read More
Tax Court: Added/Omitted Assessment Law Does Not Apply to Property Which Loses Exemption
A recent decision by Presiding Tax Court Judge Mala Sundar found that the Added and Omitted Assessment Law did not apply when an exempt property became non-exempt. Instead, the applicable law was the “Exemption Cessation” statute. The basis of this action stemmed from previously tax-exempt property that Centrastate Healthcare Services Inc. (“CHSI”) (a for-profit entity)... Read More
Taxpayer Appeal Upsets Redevelopment Designation in West Orange
The Appellate Division issued an unpublished opinion on September 11, 2020, in the case of Kevin Malanga v. West Orange. Mr. Malanga is a “resident taxpayer” within the Township of West Orange who appealed the designation of the Essex Green Shopping Center and the Executive Drive Office Park as a non-condemnation “area in need of... Read More
NJ Appellate Court: Deed Not Needed For Substitute Access
A New Jersey appellate court recently held that a condemnation creating an easement for alternative highway access to support abutting property was not required to be deeded to an abutting owner. Amba Corporation vs. State by Comm’r of Transp. A-4765-17T2, decided July 24, 2020. The plaintiff in Amba operated a motel in Bellmawr Township with... Read More
Suit Alleges Los Angeles’ Anti-Eviction and Rent Freeze Laws a Taking
The “Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles” has sued the City of Los Angeles in United States District Court for the Central District of California. A copy of the filed complaint is available here. According to the Complaint, in the wake of the “Wuhan Coronavirus”, the City “hastily” adopted a series of measures that prevent... Read More
NJ Supremes’ Reversal of Jury Verdict Reminds Trial Courts of Gatekeeping Function
Not surprised. As a follow-up report on our blog here, which recounted an Appellate Division opinion affirming a jury verdict of $4.2 million in favor of property owner Anthony Gentile where he did not present appraisal/valuation testimony at trial after his property in central New Jersey was taken by Manalapan Township. Guess the verdict was... Read More
