Legal Niches

Atlantic Yards eminent domain oral argument at New York Court of Appeals

Posted on October 14, 2009
The New York State Court Appeals heard oral arguments today in Goldstein v. New York State Urban Development Corporation, the eminent domain controversy in which a handful of property owners have tenaciously battled New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner's attempt to acquire their property to develop the Atlantic Yards...

NY Court of Appeals to Hear Brooklyn Eminent Domain Case

Posted on October 13, 2009
Goldstein v. New York State Urban Development Corporation will be argued tomorrow, October 14, 2009, at 2:00 p.m. in Albany, New York. This controverisal eminent domain case challenges the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. The New York State Court of Appeals will webcast the arguments live...

Move eminent domain reform in New Jersey

Posted on September 24, 2009
The litigation over Beachfront North in Long Branch may be over, but eminent domain abuse will continue unless the New Jersey Legislature acts. A comprehensive review and amendments to the statutes governing eminent domain in New Jersey are needed, including the Eminent Domain Act of 1971, the Local Redevelopment and Housing Law and the Relocation Assistance Act and regulations...

After Long Branch, NJ still needs eminent domain reform

Posted on September 19, 2009
Tom Anzalone is proud about his father's decision to save his beachfront home in Long Branch. 'He may be 92,' Tom said, 'but my father made all the major decisions. It's his house. He has that World War II fighting ethic, fighting for his rights.' On Tuesday, attorneys for the majority of property owners in the Marine Terrace, Ocean Terrace, Seaview Avenue (MTOTSA) neighborhood in Long Branch signed a final consent order of settlement in their long-standing eminent domain case...

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A World War II Vet wins his eminent domain battle

Posted on September 18, 2009
"The Little Guy Wins' is a feature news segment by reporter Mary Murphy, who covered the Long Branch eminent domain story on WPIX Channel 11 last night. The video clip features Louis Anzalone, 92, who never gave up the fight to keep his home, even after his wife Lillian and other senior neighbors including Al Viviano, Mary LaConte, Anna DeFaria, and Carmen Vendetti passed away before their litigation ended...

City of Long Branch v. Anzalone eminent domain agreement

Posted on September 18, 2009
Below is the Asbury Park Press video of the court hearing on September 15, featuring the signing of the 12-page settlement agreement in City of Long Branch v. Anzalone. Later that evening,  the Long Branch City Council voted 4-1 to adopt a resolution on the settlement agreement...

Settlement ends eminent domain saga for Long Branch MTOTSA homeowners

Posted on September 15, 2009
"To the outside world, my home may have been just wood and concrete, but to me, it is my whole existence...a little piece of heaven with my wife..." - Louis Anzalone, Long Branch, N.J.  One year and seven days after his wife, Lillian, quietly slipped away on the porch of their beachfront home, Louis Anzalone, 92, and his neighbors on Marine Terrace, Ocean Terrace, and Seaview Avenue - MTOTSA - in Long Branch, N...

MEDIA ADVISORY: Court hearing tomorrow could end eminent domain case for NJ homeowners in Long Branch

Posted on September 14, 2009
JOINT MEDIA ADVISORY EVENT: Tomorrow's court hearing could resolve long-standing eminent domain battle for homeowners in the MTOTSA neighborhood, Long Branch, N.J.  Pending resolution, homeowners and attorneys will speak to media after court hearing...

Solberg Airport condemnation reversed and remanded

Posted on September 04, 2009
In an important eminent domain opinion, the Appellate Division of the Superior Court reversed Somerset County Assignment Judge Yolanda Ciccone's decision to permit Readington to condemn the Solberg Airport property, and remanded the matter to the trial court for a hearing on the public purpose...

Asbury Park Under Construction on The Brian Lehrer Show

Posted on August 30, 2009
Listen to last Thursday's Brian Lehrer Show at WNYC-FM, featuring a segment about halted development and eminent domain in Asbury Park with Paul McEvily, associate executive director of Interfaith Neighbors, and William J. Ward, eminent domain attorney and blog author...

Inverse condemnation at the beach

Posted on August 06, 2009
In the case of Klumpp vs. Borough of Avalon,  the Appellate Division unanimously affirmed the trial court decision of Judge Perskie. Judge Perskie had determined that, after the 1962 storm which destroyed plaintiff's beachfront home, the defendant Borough of Avalon took functional physical possession of the property by including it in the dune system that it constructed after the storm...

Eminent domain at the mean high water line

Posted on August 01, 2009
The New Jersey Supreme Court has granted certification to a second eminent domain case for the 2009-2010 term. The case is City of Long Branch v. Jui Yung Liu (A-0237-06T2). At the heart of this case is a question similar to those that are under consideration by the United States Supreme Court in the Florida case, Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc...

SCOTUS grants cert in beachfront renourishment case

Posted on June 22, 2009
On June 15, 2009, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in the case of Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc. v. Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Docket No. 08-1151. This is the Court's first sojourn into the takings issue since June 2005, when the court issued three opinions in the Kelo, Lingle and San Remo Hotel cases...

N.J. Supreme Court to hear Iron Mountain case

Posted on May 26, 2009
  On May 21, the New Jersey Supreme Court granted certification to petitioner Iron Mountain Information Management, Inc. in a case which could be a precedent setting decision in eminent domain law. See the Appellate Division opinion in Iron Mountain Information Management, Inc...

NJ Supreme Court: Property owners get counsel fees on abandonment of condemnation

Posted on April 09, 2009
West Orange v. 769 Associates  (A-113-07) Today the New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously decided that a condemnee may recover counsel fees and costs upon abandonment of a condemnation proceeding, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 20:3-26 (b), from the point at which the property is formally targeted for condemnation through the filing of the condemnation complaint and ensuing litigation...

Notice to commercial tenants in eminent domain cases

Posted on March 28, 2009
 Iron Mountain Information Management, Inc. v. City of Newark et al (A6561-06). Download the case here. Commercial tenants are not entitled to notice provisions of the Local Redevelopment Housing Law according to a recent decision of the New Jersey Appellate Division...

Proponents of Atlantic Yards win Appellate round

Posted on March 02, 2009

Towns double-team property owner, threaten eminent domain seizure

Posted on February 27, 2009

Eminent domain hurts business owners fighting for relocation assistance in Newark

Posted on February 23, 2009
After 22 years in Newark, Multicolor Corp.'s building was condemned for the Prudential Center arena and the property owner was forced to move out of the building pictured above in April 2007. The property owner, Jorge Aguayo, is still waiting for relocation assistance...

Eminent domain in Harvey Cedars: The Dunesday Chronicles

Posted on January 29, 2009
A new and insidious attack on property owner rights is being undertaken by the Borough of Harvey Cedars on Long Beach Island. In December 2008, Harvey Cedars filed eminent domain complaints against beach front property owners. The borough seeks the right to acquire an easement across the width of ocean frontage...

Long Branch eminent domain settlement talks continue

Posted on December 24, 2008
Settlement discussions in the Long Branch eminent domain cases began on December 22 before Judge Thomas W. Cavanagh, Jr., who was designated by Monmouth County Assignment Judge Lawrence Lawson to conference legal counsel and concerned parties in City of Long Branch vs...

Rejected redevelopment revisited by Union Township

Posted on December 02, 2008
Union Township business owner Raul Rodriguez was one of 22 property owners who fought the blight designation and the use of eminent domain in Union Township, New Jersey. This Friday, December 5, attorneys for Union Township will move before the Hon. Walter R...

No stay for Long Branch condemnations

Posted on October 25, 2008
Monmouth County Assignment Judge Lawrence M. Lawson rejected two motions to stay two eminent domain jury trials in the cases City of Long Branch v. DeLuca and City of Long Branch v. Angelides yesterday. Long Branch filed a motion seeking an indefinite stay of these condemnation trials, scheduled respectively for November 3 and December 8, 2008...

Eminent domain verdict: financial crisis for Jersey City

Posted on October 08, 2008
A Hudson County jury awarded $18.6 million on September 22 to property owners Ronald, Katherine, and Lynn Kerrigan for 3.41 acres acquired by the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency (JCRA). The unanimous verdict was reached by 8 jurors, concluding the 10-day eminent domain trial before Judge Mark J...

Lillian Anzalone, eminent domain defendant

Posted on September 09, 2008
Lillian Anzalone died at home this morning. She was 91. Mrs. Anzalone was born in Newark on February 10, 1917. She was a buyer of women’s clothes in New York before she married Louis Anzalone in 1954. Together, the Anzalones and their son, Thomas, lived at 32 Ocean Terrace, Long Branch...

Long Branch property owners cross-petition NJ Supreme Court in eminent domain cases

Posted on September 04, 2008
William J. Ward, Esq. of Carlin & Ward; Peter H. Wegener of Bathgate Wegener & Wolf and Scott Bullock of the Institute of Justice, representing the Long Branch property owners, have cross-petitioned the New Jersey Supreme Court today in the City of Long Branch v...

Long Branch eminent domain case reversed and remanded

Posted on August 07, 2008
In a unanimous 85-page opinion, approved for publication, the Appellate Division today reversed the decision of Judge Lawson and remanded the controversial eminent domain case, City of Long Branch v. Anzalone, for a plenary hearing. The court agreed with the arguments made by the appellants that the record was devoid of the requisite substantial evidence of blight required by N...

NJDEP required to use eminent domain in beachfront easements

Posted on July 16, 2008
In a unanimous per curiam opinion issued yesterday, July 15, 2008, the Appellate Division affirmed a lower court decision by Chancery Court Judge Vincent J. Grasso denying an injunction to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to compel beach front property owners on Long Beach Island to grant easements for beachfront replenishment...

Waiting for Eminent Domain Reform

Posted on June 16, 2008
Last Thursday’s meeting of the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee ended shortly after it began. With no quorum and two of the Democrats missing, Senator Rice withheld the eminent domain reform bills until the next meeting which, he said, the would be in a few days...

Halper Farm eminent domain verdict affirmed

Posted on May 15, 2008
The Halper family has had a long, tortuous history with the township of Piscataway regarding the acquisition of their farm. The township condemned the 75-acre farm for open space on December 10, 1999. Piscataway offered $4.326 million as its estimate of just compensation pursuant to N...

Appealing Long Branch

Posted on May 14, 2008
The Appellate Division heard three hours of arguments from the assembled attorneys representing Long Branch property owners and the city of Long Branch. The argument before the media and a standing room crowd of spectators included the property owners, their families, and interested parties to the eminent domain issues...

MEDIA ADVISORY: City of Long Branch v. Anzalone

Posted on May 12, 2008
MEDIA ADVISORY: City of Long Branch v. AnzaloneThe Appellate Division of the Superior Court will hear oral arguments tomorrow in two eminent domain cases, City of Long Branch v. Anzalone and City of Long Branch v. Brower, on the 5th floor of the Richard J...

NJ Eminent Domain Reform Year Three

Posted on May 04, 2008
Tomorrow May 5 at 10 a.m., the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee will take up S-757, the latest version of eminent domain reform, sponsored by Senator Ronald Rice. To read the most recent amendments, download bill S-757. The meeting  will take place in Committee Room 7 on the second floor of State House Annex, Trenton, New Jersey...

'Show me' eminent domain in Missouri

Posted on April 09, 2008
In a significant case, widely anticipated by the eminent domain bar, the Missouri Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling which would have blocked communities from using eminent domain for private development supported by tax concessions on March 18, 2008...

Fencing with eminent domain: All hat on the Texas border

Posted on February 29, 2008
"They're going to put up some fence, and it's going to be in Eagle Pass just to make an example of the mouthy mayor of Eagle Pass." – Mayor Chad Foster, as quoted in the Houston Chronicle.The Bush administration’s decision to move forward with condemnation to acquire the necessary easements for the construction of the border fence makes very little sense...

Due process issue in three redevelopment cases gives notice to Harrison

Posted on February 26, 2008
NOTICE: YOUR PROPERTY MAY BE CONDEMNED.  If you own a property in an "area in need of redevelopment," (a.k.a blighted area") you would expect to see those exact words at the top of the notice you receive from a municipality. The notice issue was first discussed on this blog in a commentary about the Shennett case, when the Passaic Redevelopment Agency justified taking Charlie Shennett's land and said they did what they were legally required to do...

Proposed eminent domain reform in NJ enters third year

Posted on February 16, 2008
Three's a charm.  New Jersey's promised eminent domain reform enters its third year after many iterations of the bill, passed by the Assembly in 2006, failed in the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee in 2007, and reintroduced and referred on January 8 to the Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee as A1492...

Eminent Domain in New Jersey Seminar: April 17, 2008

Posted on January 25, 2008
SAVE THE DATE...William J. Ward, Esq., author of the New Jersey Eminent Domain Law Blog, will moderate the Lorman Education seminar Eminent Domain in New Jersey for the third consecutive year on Thursday, April 17, 2008, in North Brunswick, New Jersey...

Don't fence me in with eminent domain

Posted on January 24, 2008
"Even in the most egregious eminent domain cases, the party whose land is being taken is given his or her day in court. The people of Texas should be outraged by the sneaky, underhanded methods used by the Department of Homeland Security....Informing the city after the judge ruled that there land is already taken is not the Texan or American way of justice...

NJ ICLE Redevelopment Law Institute Friday January 25

Posted on January 20, 2008
The New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education will hold its 2008 Redevelopment Law Institute on Friday January 25 in New Brunswick featuring The Impact of Gallenthin v. Paulsboro and Other Recent Cases. Several cases following the Gallenthin decision have affected municipalities' use of eminent domain in redevelopment efforts...

Take the D-Train for eminent domain reform

Posted on January 16, 2008
There was one eminent domain bill passed in New Jersey -- on January 13, 2008, to be exact. No, it was not a reform of the Local Redevelopment Housing Law, long considered by the Legislature, passed by the Assembly, and never voted out of the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee...

Pay-to-Play Hoboken

Posted on January 10, 2008
Pay-to-play remains at the heart of the problem in New Jersey redevelopment and the authorization of eminent domain. Simply put, developers contribute to the campaigns of mayors and council members; and, in turn, the mayor and council designate the developer for the project and use the municipal power of eminent domain to acquire properties needed to assemble the project area...

Recovering litigation costs when condemnation is abandoned

Posted on December 28, 2007
West Orange v. 769 Associates LLC (A-5677-05)In an unanimous decision of the Appellate Division issued on December 24, 2007, and approved for publication, Judge Jose Fuentes writing for the panel, ruled that a property owner can recover litigation costs under the provision in the Eminent Domain Act, N...

Rebuilding Asbury Park: Hopes dashed for Esperanza

Posted on December 16, 2007
"Asbury Partners is very sad that the current financing and real estate market has caused Metro to suspend construction on the Esperanza." -- Larry FishmanIn 2006, the demolition of the C-8 steel skeleton, a symbol of redevelopment failure, gave hope to Esperanza, the high-rise residential tower undertaken by developer Dean Geibel and  president of Metro Homes...

A Mosque, Open Space and Eminent Domain

Posted on December 05, 2007
United States District Court Judge Peter G. Sheridan issued an opinion on November 29 on a motion to amend the complaint in Albanian Associated Fund v. Township of Wayne. This case involves eminent domain, open space, and land use regulations in the context of proposed religious use, the building of a Muslim mosque on 11 acres in Wayne Township, New Jersey...

RLUIPA, Redevelopment, and Eminent Domain

Posted on December 02, 2007
The decision in Lighthouse Institute for Evangelism v. City of Long Branch, rendered by the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on November 27, has national implications for religious use, zoning regulations, and eminent domain. In its precedent setting 96-page opinion, the Third Circuit ruled 2-1 in favor of the City of Long Branch against Reverend Kevin Brown and the Lighthouse Institute for Evangelism in their attempt to establish a church at 162 Broadway within the Broadway Corridor Redevelopment area...

No eminent domain reform bill in N.J.

Posted on November 30, 2007
Mark Twain said, “There are two things you should never watch being made: sausage and legislation.” Heeding that advice, I saved myself a trip to Trenton and listened to yesterday’s Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on eminent domain reform on my computer...

Going Home: Remembering Long Branch eminent domain activist Anna DeFaria

Posted on November 17, 2007
While she waited for the next round in the eminent domain fight against the City of Long Branch, Anna DeFaria, 82, lost her battle with ovarian cancer. Last Wednesday, she died at home. Home was the modest, oceanfront cottage that DeFaria and her husband, Antone, owned since 1960...

Do you need a high I.Q. to understand eminent domain law?

Posted on November 10, 2007
After reading the list of Best Law Blogs that made the top ten in the 2007 Weblog Awards, we noted that the Volokh Conspiracy (Ranked #3 in the poll) posts the reading level of their blog at Junior High School level. So we were curious to see what our reading level is, and after testing it three times...

Just compensation: Do Indian SEZ steal from the poor?

Posted on November 08, 2007
posted by Priya Prakash Royal"The future of the Indian people and Indian democracy rests on the land question. While the Government is forced to pause in its inhuman project of land grab, let the farmers and the democratic forces of the country join in evolving charter and an agenda for land sovereignty...

New Jersey Turnpike Widening

Posted on October 23, 2007
 The New Jersey Turnpike is the fifth busiest road in the nation and the proposed widening between exits 6 and 9 will be one of the biggest public works projects ever undertaken in the state. Preliminary plans, displayed at four public hearings last month, call for the six lane highway to be expanded to 12 lanes from Mansfield to Cranbury and for an expansion of toll plazas at exits 7, 7A, 8, and 8A...

CLE International Eminent Domain Conference in N.J.

Posted on October 13, 2007
William J. Ward and James M. Turteltaub will speak on Monday, October 15, 2007, at the 3rd Annual CLE International Eminent Domain Conference at the Nassau Inn in Princeton, N.J. On Monday October 15, Mr. Turteltaub and Stephen Eisdorfer of Hill Wallack will discuss best practices in their presentation, "Appealing the Case...

Ethics, Redevelopment and Eminent Domain

Posted on September 12, 2007
September 2007 will go down in history as a month of infamy for New Jersey. The headlines in the state’s major newspapers featured the sentencing of former Ocean Township Mayor and Asbury Park Manager Terrence Weldon for accepting $64,000 in bribes from developers; the federal indictment of 11 municipal officials from Passaic, Paterson, Newark, Orange and Pleasantville on bribery charges in a sting operation...

Eminent Domain, Fifth Amendment Property Rights, and Government Retaliation

Posted on September 04, 2007
On June 25, 2007, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Wilkie v. Robbins (06-219.) The case was barely reported in the media but was anticipated by property rights activists since it was the first significant property rights case decided by the Supreme Court since Kelo v...

Eminent domain, demographics and immigration policy

Posted on August 26, 2007
On the face of it, you may be wondering what eminent domain, demographics, and immigration policy have to do with each other. A disturbing trend is developing – the prime example is in Morristown, New Jersey, where Mayor Cresitello has been banging the drum to have local police deputized to enforce immigration laws...

Junior Statesmen hear eminent domain talk

Posted on August 15, 2007
Today at the Statehouse Annex in Trenton, New Jersey high school students, who participated in the New Jersey Symposium on Leadership and Politics hosted by the Junior Statesmen Foundation and Princeton University, heard a lecture on eminent domain among other topics...