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“Too Little, Too Late” – Appeal of $118,000,000 Assessment Dismissed as Untimely
Ouch. This is a huge reminder that, in most NJ towns, property tax appeals must be filed this year on or before April 3, 2023. And you better be on time! Last month, the Tax Court of New Jersey dismissed a commercial taxpayer’s appeal of a new assessment resulting from a municipal revaluation as being... Read More
Great 8, Numbers 6 & 7: Cat in the Hat & Suydam
Two for one Friday, or the Daily-Double! There was a raging debate twenty years ago (tempus fugit!) about what happens when government acquires allegedly contaminated property for public use. Parties clashed over whether property seized by eminent domain should be valued considering the impact of the alleged contamination upon the value, or whether the contamination... Read More
Eminent Domain and Professional Sports Worlds Collide Again
The SoCal city of Inglewood is back in the news, as it appears likely that it will be seizing private properties again in connection with its new sports and entertainment district which includes a $2 billion basketball arena that will become home to the LA Clippers professional basketball team. In early 2021, Inglewood first authorized... Read More
LA County Agrees to Pay $20 Million for Bruce’s Beach
In November 2021 and August 2022, we covered a story where California’s Governor, Gavin Newsom, signed a law authorizing Los Angeles County to return a beach property taken by eminent domain back to descendants of the original property owners. Those blogs can be found here and here. In mid-July 2022, an oceanfront ceremony officially marked... Read More
Great Eight, No. 5 – Nollan v. California Coastal Commission (US)
1987. My penultimate year in high school and the year the United States Supreme Court decided Nollan v. California Coastal Commission. 483 U.S. 825. Justice Scalia’s opinion is worthy of a full read, especially the continued – and almost comical – retorts to Justice Brennan’s dissenting opinion. The issue is on appeal is immediately established: ... Read More
Great 8, Number 4: Wilson – Municipal Redevelopment Sustained
The above image apparently depicts a downtown urban blighted area in Connecticut. (But, today’s post will not be about the famous Little Pink House in Connecticut). This post is about the judicial progenitor of redevelopment in New Jersey, Wilson v City of Long Branch (1957) (Francis, Assoc. Justice). The case was the first to challenge... Read More
Harrison Tp Redevelopment Faces Heavy Opposition
A quick break from the “great 8” – – NJ.com reports that a rural Gloucester County municipality has been targeted in two lawsuits seeking to invalidate a “warehouse” friendly redevelopment plan. To refresh everyone’s recollection, the New Jersey Constitution declares that “redevelopment” of a “blighted area” is a public use and public purpose for which... Read More
Morristown Property Tax Revaluation Delayed to 2024
Morristown’s first property tax revaluation in nearly 20 years looks like it will have to wait yet another year to be completed. Delays in performing inspections of the properties are the principal reason for the delay in the revaluation, which had been ordered to take place by the Morris County Tax Board and was originally... Read More
Great 8, Number 3: United States v. Causby
Thomas Lee and Tinie Causby lived outside of Greensboro, North Carolina and operated a chicken farm on their 2.8 acre property. In May of 1942 – about 5 months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 – the United States leased the municipal airport adjacent to Causby’s chicken farm to operate military... Read More
Great 8, Number 2: Washington Market – Early Inverse Case
Washington Market Enterprises, Inc. v. City of Trenton, 68 N.J. 107 (1975) is number two on the list. The case is included because it is probably one of the earliest New Jersey inverse condemnation cases alleging a “regulatory taking” where the owner prevailed. Our Supreme Court framed the issue: “This case presents the question of... Read More
