Gibbons Law Alert
How can the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) be improved? The agency released two different perspectives on that question over the past few weeks: a “top-down” view in the form of a “Transformation Plan” for reforming NJDEP, and a “bottom-up” view in the form of a compilation of hundreds of complaints and suggestions from NJDEP employees.
The time period to renew an expired New Jersey alcoholic beverage license is rapidly coming to a close and will end on November 8, 2010. Under a provision of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, N.J.S.A. 33:1-1 et seq., enacted earlier this year, a person holding an expired license, which was not renewed within the five years prior to May 6, 2010, may file for renewal of that license provided that (i) the applicant pay all renewal fees for the years in which timely renewals were not filed, and (ii) the applicant’s failure to apply for a renewal during that period was due to circumstances beyond his control or due to other extraordinary circumstances.
It is difficult for a defendant to avoid a claim by invoking the doctrine of waiver, which requires proof of a clear, unequivocal act showing that the plaintiff deliberately intended to relinquish a known legal right. It is doubly difficult when the plaintiff is the State of New Jersey, against which the application of the doctrine is, in the words of a leading Supreme Court case, to be “most strictly limited.”
All of us are intrigued by the concept of utilizing a clean, renewable energy source to generate abundant and cheap power for our homes and businesses. Some of us have even investigated installing a renewable energy system, but have come away disappointed due to onerous regulatory obstacles and the high cost associated with these installations. That is, unless you are looking into installing a solar energy power facility in New Jersey.
As discussed in a recent post, beaches have a way of generating difficult cases about when land-use regulations result in a compensable “taking” of property. A new opinion from the New Jersey Supreme Court reminds us that things can be just as complicated when the government takes beachfront property the old-fashioned way, via eminent domain.
On October 4, 2010, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) formally proposed revisions to the Site Remediation Reform Act’s (SRRA) interim rules. The revisions impact two important components of the interim rules: remediation deadlines and vapor intrusion investigations. These technical amendments are based upon stakeholder input and are intended to reduce the burden on the regulated community and New Jersey’s newly minted Licensed Site Remediation Professionals (LSRPs).
Attendance was up and the mood was upbeat at the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) PA/NJ/DE Idea Exchange on September 15-16 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. For the 7th consecutive year, Gibbons P.C. exhibited at the show. Five Gibbons lawyers, from the firm’s Philadelphia and Newark offices, attended.
Owners of land subject to the 2004 Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act (Highlands Act) who preserve their land under the Green Acres Program or the State Farmland Preservation Program will benefit from special appraisal rules for five more years, thanks to legislation signed into law by Governor Christie on September 9. Under the “dual appraisal” provision, which expired last year but has now been extended to 2014, landowners receive two appraisals — one based on current property value, and one based on pre-Highlands Act zoning and other restrictions — and the higher appraisal is used as the basis for negotiation with the State on the appropriate payment.
With the advent of New Jersey’s LSRP program comes an added financial benefit for environmental remediation matters requiring a remediation funding source (“RFS”). There is an opportunity to save on the statutory annual 1% surcharge on an RFS, especially useful for those sites subject to the requirements of the Industrial Site Recovery Act.
A Michigan court dismissed a juror who during the trial posted on Facebook, “gonna be fun to tell defendant they’re guilty.” A New Jersey Appellate Court holds it is alright to google jurors’ names during jury selection. Carino v. Muenzen, App. Div. August 30, 2010. The upshot is that the internet is moving into the jury box. In Carino, the plaintiff’s attorney used the court’s wi-fi to access the internet on his laptop. The court, ever hip, asked if he was googling the potential jurors. The trial court told him to put away the computer because he gave no notice he intended to google the jurors.