BLOG: Condemnation Law
Private Property Rights Protection Bill Introduced by Congress
H.R. 1433 (the “Private Property Rights Protection Act”) was recently introduced in the United States Congress by its bipartisan co-sponsors Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Maxine Waters (D-CA). If the proposed legislation passed as currently drafted, the new law would prohibit a State from using eminent domain for private development where a State had received federal... Read More
Schools Development Authority Considering Selling “Surplus” Eminent Domain Properties
The New Jersey Schools Development Authority (SDA), formerly the Schools Construction Corporation (SCC), recently answered questions from a joint legislative committee on what the SDA plans to do with the 160 properties purchased for projects that are no longer on the agency’s priority list. The properties are being evaluated by the SDA to determine if any... Read More
When a Private Beach is Really Not Private
The Texas Supreme Court has decided to reconsider its opinion in Severance v. Patterson, No. 09-0378 (Tx. Nov. 5, 2010), where that court was asked to decide “whether private beachfront properties on Galveston Island’s West Beach are impressed with a right of public use under Texas law without proof of an easement” when an avulsive event... Read More
McKirdy & Riskin Attorneys Selected as New Jersey Super Lawyers
Four of McKirdy & Riskin’s nine attorneys were selected as “Top 100″ Attorneys in New Jersey” for 2011 by Super Lawyers, as published by Thomson Reuters and in the April, 2011 edition of New Jersey Monthly Magazine. Edward McKirdy (selected to the Top 100 list for the fourth straight year) and Anthony Della Pelle (selected to... Read More
N.J. Supreme Court: Tenant Has Clout to Negotiate in Condemnation
Yesterday, the New Jersey Supreme Court decided Town of Kearny v. Discount City (A-76-09) and held that a condemnation action should have been dismissed for a failure to engage in bona fide negotiations with the only condemnee, a tenant occupying a building within a designated redevelopment area. Along the way to reversal, the Court reaffirmed its earlier... Read More
Federal Appeals Court Halts Mt. Holly Gardens Redevelopment Project
A Federal appellate court ordered this week a halt to the Mt. Holly Gardens redevelopment project while an appeal of a trial court ruling is argued. The appeal concerns the claims by a group of residents who have claimed that the replacement of low-income housing by eminent domain with higher-priced homes as part of a redevelopment project is... Read More
Jury Awards $3.75 Million for Taking of Morris County Diner
A Morris County jury yesterday awarded $3,750,000 to the owner of the Traveler’s Diner in Dover, as just compensation for the taking of its property by the New Jersey Department of Transportation. The NJDOT, which acquired the property in 2008 via eminent domain to improve the intersection of Routes 46 and 15, had originally estimated... Read More
Another Inverse Condemnation Complaint Bounced
A New Jersey appeals court recently affirmed the dismissal of an inverse condemnation complaint filed by a property owner against the Township of Mount Laurel, which asserted that a resolution adopted by the Township amounted to a total regulatory taking of his property. Carroll v. Township of Mt. Laurel, Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate... Read More
Temporary "Takings" Judgment Remanded
The Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court recently reversed a trial court decision, which had awarded a property owner over a million dollars in damages allegedly caused by an NJDOT road-widening project that interfered with plaintiff’s high-end used car business for over 4 years. Penn Auto Sales of Rte 21, Inc. v. Dep’t of Transportation (Docket... Read More
Proposed Legislation Could Impact Relocation Assistance
Bills introduced in both the Assembly and the Senate would make various changes to the process used when the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) hears a contested case involving certain state agencies. The bill would permit the Director and Chief Administrative Law Judge of the OAL, and administrative law judges (ALJ) to issue oral decisions under... Read More
