BLOG: Condemnation Law
Brooke Shields to Play Susette Kelo in New Movie
Kelo v. City of New London is moving from a court case of a lifetime to a movie on the Lifetime Channel. The movie is based on the book “Little Pink House” about Susette Kelo and the Fort Trumbull section of New London’s fight against eminent domain for redevelopment purposes. Susette Kelo’s story became famous the United... Read More
Atlantic City Development Authority Gets New Executive Director
The Press of Atlantic City reports that Governor Christie will today announce a new head of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority at Boardwalk Hall. Christie picked John Palmieri, born in Hoboken, but who spent the last four years as head of Boston’s redevelopment agency and has spent many years in New England working in other... Read More
Long Branch Property Owners Suffer Setback
As reported today in the Asbury Park Press, four property owners in Long Branch’s infamous MTOTSA (Marine Terrace, Ocean Terrace, and Seaview Avenue) redevelopment area lost their most recent battle with the governing body. Two years ago, after the Appellate Division reversed a trial court decision that authorized the use of eminent domain to acquire private... Read More
Don't Bank On It!
Mortgage Lender’s Rights in Eminent Domain Cases May Outweigh Owner’s Property owners in eminent domain cases rarely own the condemned property outright, without any mortgages or other liens. Typically, the property owner took out a loan from a bank to purchase the property, and the bank obtained an interest in the property in the form of... Read More
Morristown's Speedwell Redevelopment Moving Forward (Slowly)
Earlier this month, the Town of Morristown introduced – and adopted – another amended redevelopment plan. The public will have an opportunity to comment on the amended plan on September 15, 2011 as reported by the Daily Record. A more detailed account of the redevelopment project may be found in this Morristown Patch article. Having grown up in Morristown,... Read More
Highlands Act Withstands Another Round of Legal Attacks
New Jersey appellate courts, in a series of published and unpublished opinions, recently addressed a variety of issues raised by the adoption of the Highlands Regional Master Plan (RMP) as required by the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act (the Highlands Act), N.J.S.A. 13:20-1 to -35. The Council, on July 17, 2008, adopted the RMP... Read More
Jersey City McGinley Square Redevelopment – Citizen Asks: Et Tu Brutus?
Following on the footsteps of last week’s removal of the McGinley Square Redevelopment Plan from the Jersey City Council’s agenda, is this impassioned letter to the editor reported by the Jersey City Independent. Even though the plan was removed from the Council’s agenda, this citizen asks that eminent domain be removed from any version of... Read More
Constitution "Alive and Well" in Virginia
The Virginia DOT will be forced to pay for what it took from farmer Ed Jennings. In a rare “inverse condemnation” (where a property owner sues government to compensate for a taking), the judge found that run-off from a bridge over the property owner’s land, and mounds of construction debris deposited on the land were... Read More
Jersey City: About Face!
Jersey City Hears McGinley Square Residents’ Eminent Domain Complaints – Withdraws Redevelopment Plan from Agenda Less than 24 hours after the Jersey City Planning Board recommended that a redevelopment area be designated that would authorize the use of eminent domain, a proposed resolution and ordinance to accept the Planning Board’s recommendation and approve a redevelopment plan... Read More
Electricity Shocks Property Owners, But Not The Court
Shock Treatment Insufficient to Constitute Inverse Condemnation Yesterday, a New Jersey appellate court affirmed a jury verdict awarding $195,000 in “nuisance” damages to a Brick Township couple, but refused to reverse the trial court’s finding that an electric utility company’s stray “neutral to earth” voltage running rampant through their backyard was insufficient to amount to taking. Smith v. Jersey Central... Read More
