NJ Jury Completely Rejects the Government’s Argument that Taking a Permanent Easement Requires No Compensation

The City of Hoboken, New Jersey, partnered with the State of New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection, commenced condemnation proceedings to acquire a permanent easement for construction and maintenance of a flood control wall on private property.  The private property was part of a luxury apartment building, and in particular was deed restricted as an outdoor recreational area (5,200 s.f. +/-) accessible by the owners and the general public.  The City’s appraiser recognized that the property was some of the most valuable property in Hoboken, if not the State, but opined that the taking would have no impact on the value because the area was already deed restricted for public use.  Therefore, his value for the taking was zero.  He testified that the owners should be compensated for out of pocket fees and costs to “review the easement.” (legal engineering and appraisal).  However, he made it clear that those fees and costs would not be covered to challenge the City/State’s experts opinions.

The property owner retained Owners Counsel’s NJ member, Anthony DellaPelle and his firm, McKirdy, Riskin, Olson & DellaPelle, P.C. to assist them in contesting the government’s position that no compensation was owed for the taking of this permanent easement on privately owned property.  Joe Grather, of the firm (and an Affiliate Owners Counsel member), served as trial counsel.

A jury trial was held in mid-April to determine the amount of just compensation owed for this taking by eminent domain.  The owner’s appraiser valued the property before the taking at $27,475,000 (land only), and opined that the taking reduced the value by $450,000, i.e. the value after taking was $27,025,000.  After three days of hearing testimony from both sides, the case went to the jury.  After three hours of deliberations, the jury asked three questions of the Judge, the first being “Is there a limit of what we can award?”  Advised that the verdict must be based on the evidence, the jury awarded $454,058 (7-1 vote).  (The jury also asked if they were allowed to award legal fees, but in NJ this is not allowed).

With interest (from 2022, when the case originated, until the 2025 decision) the ultimate judgment was for $513,800.  The jury wholly rejected the government’s position that the taking should result in zero compensation to the owner because the area was a dedicated public courtyard/open space recreation area.  This is a great result, and an excellent reminder of both why the right to trial by jury is so important in our justice system and how important it is to retain experienced eminent domain counsel who will go the distance and litigate cases when the government’s positions are unreasonable.  Congratulations to Joe and to the property owners on a tough battle well fought!

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