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Town Gets Taste of Own Medicine: Not Permitted to Pursue Counterclaim After Deadline
In an unusual case, a Tax Court judge denied a municipality’s attempt to file a counterclaim in a tax appeal almost two years after the statutory deadline for filing such a claim. Typically, municipalities file motions to dismiss taxpayer appeals with citations to case law and court rules which strictly enforce the prescribed filing deadlines. ... Read More
Happy Trails – Property Owner Wins Before USSCT
On March 10, 2014, the United States Supreme Court issued its almost unanimous (8-1) decision in Brandt Revocable Trust v United States. The question presented is detailed in our prior blog here, but simply stated, the government argued that it owned the ground underneath an abandoned railroad right-of-way that permitted it to continue the Medicine Bow... Read More
Private Property Rights Protection Act Passed by the House
A federal bill H.R. 1944 introduced back in May of 2013, has been passed by the House of Representatives. Reported here. All the details and text of the bill are set forth in our June 2013 blog. Simply stated, the bill purportedly will punish States that abuse the eminent domain power by limiting federal dollars for... Read More
Correction of Errors Statute Wrong Way to Correct County Tax Board Judgment
Several property owners recently asked the Tax Court to correct judgments entered by the Middlesex County Board of Taxation after receiving judgments showing a different value than the County Tax Board commissioner hearing the matters had determined. Specifically, the commissioner indicated that he had determined the market value of the properties was $420,000, which placed... Read More
Homeowner’s Reduced Assessment Upheld by Appeals Court
Long Branch City unsuccessfully appealed the decision of a Tax Court judge which reduced the assessment on a residential home. The home at issue was built in 2008. At trial, the property owner’s valuation expert testified that he relied primarily on comparable sales from Deal Township, a neighboring municipality which he considered more desirable, and... Read More
Sisters Get Only Some Mercy From Tax Court on Exemption Claim
Last week, another property exemption case was decided by the New Jersey Tax Court, this one in partial favor of the property owner, the Sisters of Mercy of the Americans Mid-Atlantic Community, Inc. (the “Sisters”). The Sisters own two parcels of property in Sea Isle City, Cape May County, which are located one block from... Read More
Experts' Valuation Arguments Rejected as Net Opinion in Hoboken Taking
Hudson County Assignment Judge Peter Bariso recently rejected a property owner’s argument that the date of value should be a date earlier than the commencement of condemnation action on August 23, 2012. City of Hoboken v. Ponte Equities, Inc. (Docket No. HUD-L-4095-12). The property owner argued that the date of value should have been June... Read More
Country Club’s Exemption Claim Lands In The Rough
A Tax Court judge has rejected a claim by Sakima Country Club for a real property tax exemption under N.J.S.A. 54:4-3.6. Sakima Country Club is a private club located in Carney’s Point Township. Sakima was originally incorporated in 1931 as the Dupont Penns-Grove Country Club, a non-profit entity. Sakima’s organizational documents explicitly provide that the... Read More
Undersized Lot Receives Variance From Court to Avoide Inverse Condemnation Claim
While not our prototypical condemnation case, a trial judge in Ocean County aptly reversed a local zoning board in Jerman v. Tp. of Manchester (Docket No. OCN-L-1844-13). If affirmed the zoning board’s denial of a bulk variance that would have zoned the property into inutility; that is, it would have rendered the property valueless and would thereby... Read More
Beach Erosion Caused by Jetties May Constitute a Taking
The latest in a long-running dispute between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and lake-front property owners in Michigan, whose beaches have allegedly been washed away because of jetties installed by the Army Corps long ago, is a ruling from the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that the takings’ claims... Read More
