May 29, 2009
Contact Person: John C. Cappello, Esq.
Jacobowitz and Gubits, LLP
Telephone: 845-778-2121 ext. 224
TOWN OF MONTGOMERY ORDERED TO PAY ADDITIONAL $90,000 TO PROPERTY OWNERS
The State Supreme Court in Orange County has ordered the Town of Montgomery to pay an additional $90,198.24 to the developers of two parcels of land in Scott's Corners. The Court had previously held that the Town of Montgomery and its past officials had violated the developers' federally protected constitutional rights by adopting a comprehensive plan and zoning laws that illegally excluded the construction of affordable housing in the Town. The Court also ordered the Town to reimburse the developers for the cost of their attorney's and expert fees in the amount of $463,162.74, plus interest. The Town paid that amount - $562,789.98 - to the developers in January 2009. There was no insurance coverage and the judgment was paid from taxpayer funds.
Although developer David Weinberg, principal of Crossroads Farms, tried repeatedly to settle the litigation with the Town, the Town took appeals of the Court's decision all the way to the State's highest court. In August 2008 the state Appellate Division affirmed Judge Owen's holdings, and in December 2008 the state Court of Appeals dismissed the Town's last appeal. Attorney's fees can be awarded to the prevailing party, paid by the government, where the court finds that the government has violated federal constitutional rights. The Court here awarded the developers $90,198.24 for their attorney's fees incurred in successfully defending against the Town's appeals and establishing their right to the attorney's fee award.
The Court's decision states that "the Court finds the fees charged by petitioners' attorneys in successfully representing their clients' interests to be reasonable. While the Court recognizes the magnitude of these fees, [Town officials] have chosen a course of continued litigation and cannot now defeat petitioners' rights because, in retrospect, this course has proven to be an extremely costly one."
Gerald N. Jacobowitz, senior partner in Jacobowitz and Gubits, LLP, attorney for the developers, stated: "It is remarkable that despite these money judgments, the Town Planning Board continues to obstruct the project review process. In earlier decisions Judge Owen expressed his hope and expectation that the Planning Board would proceed in good faith to process the Crossroad Farms application. But the Planning Board instead has placed one obstacle after another and, after seven years, has totally failed to address even the most basic elements of the development plan. I am certain that there is better use of taxpayer money than to thwart the Crossroad Farms plan, which meets the goals of the Town and Orange County Comprehensive Plans."
Partner Ben Gailey, Esq., and Senior Associate Michele L. Babcock, Esq., represented the firm's clients in the appellate courts and in the motion practice to obtain the attorney's fees awards.
