BLOG: Condemnation Law
Newark Trucking Facility Not Blighted
A Newark property owner, CD Development, LLC, challenged a 2005 blight designation which led to its property being designated as an area in need of redevelopment. The five acre property is used as an active trucking facility. Newark’s planning expert concluded the property satisfied the Local Redevelopment and Housing Law (LRHL) criteria in N.J.S.A. 40A:12A-5(e), the... Read More
Asbury Park Property Owner Wins Opportunity to Seek Amendment to Redevelopment Plan
The Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court has reversed a trial judge’s decision that property within a redevelopment area in Asbury Park was “unzoned” because it was exempted from eminent domain as part of a redevelopment plan. The subject property, formerly owned by the Salvation Army, was exempted from eminent domain under the... Read More
United States Supreme Court Declines to Hear New Jersey Highlands Act Case
The United States Supreme Court has declined to hear arguments in a case challenging the New Jersey Highlands Act filed by several families who own farmland in Warren, Hunterdon and Morris counties. The property owners argued that their properties were devalued by the Act because the legislation made it impossible for those properties to be sold... Read More
Rehearing Ordered on Interest Rate Decision in Long Branch Taking
Failure to Provide Evidentiary Hearing on Interest Rates Requires Remand A New Jersey appellate court recently held that a Monmouth County Superior Court trial judge erred by failing to hold an evidentiary hearing in a Long Branch redevelopment taking case, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 20:3-31 and -32 after it was requested by the property owners. The... Read More
Eminent Domain Questions Asked of U.S.Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan at Confirmation Hearings
Even before Senator Charles Grassley (R. Iowa) questioned Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan on July 1, 2010, about property rights and the Court’s Kelo decision, the media expected and suggested that she address the topic. See Christian Science Monitor ; or George Will’s column from the Washington Post. Senator Grassley was not satisfied with Kagan’s answers... Read More
Old Bridge Councilman and Resident Teaming Up to Propose Eminent Domain Restrictions
Old Bridge Township Councilman-at-Large Brian Cahill, and local resident Tony Piscetti, are in the early stages of researching and drafting a municipal ordinance which would prohibit the use of eminent domain to seize property for tax revenue purposes. The work is being done at the request of Old Bridge residents. Cahill acknowledged that the ordinance... Read More
Recovery of Owner’s Attorneys’ Fees Limited in “Complicated” Inverse Condemnation Case
A New Jersey appeals court recently limited a Bergen County property owner’s ability to recover attorneys’ fees in an inverse condemnation proceeding to those fees actually and reasonably incurred in connection with the condemnation. The plaintiff, NJ Capital Partners, LLC, filed an inverse condemnation action after the Oakland Planning Board denied its subdivision application twice. After... Read More
NY High Court Permits Taking for Columbia University Expansion
The New York Court of Appeals reversed the decision of a lower court, holding that a Columbia University expansion project could proceed, resulting in the taking of private property for use by a private university. The court below had concluded that there was insufficient evidence to conclude that the Columbia University Educational Mixed Use Development Land... Read More
Jury Verdict in Cliffside Park Case Upheld on Appeal
Verdict not based on averaging or misconduct according to New Jersey’s Appellate Division An opinion released by a New Jersey appellate court found that a jury properly carried out its duties in Borough of Cliffside Park v. Estate of Ignatius Catanzaro., a condemnation case involving Cliffside Park’s taking of a downtown commercial building containing a restaurant... Read More
"Powerhouse" Redevelopment Amendment Allowed for Decades Old Blight Designation
The New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division recently published its decision affirming a trial court decision which disallowed a challenge to an amendment to a redevelopment pan by the City of Jersey City in its Powerhouse Redevelopment Area. Powerhouse Arts District Neighborhood Assoc. v. City Council, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div, 2010). Along the way... Read More
