Case Law Summaries

Black United Fund of New Jersey, Inc. v. City of East Orange

TAXATION—A charitable organization whose function is to distribute funds to other nonprofit agencies, even though exempt from income taxation under federal law, is not exempt from real property taxation, and even it were, failure to organize solely for an exempt purpose would also disqualify the entity.

• Opinion Date: May 9, 2001
• Real Property Law

Estabrook v. Hillside Township

TAXATION—In a tax appeal, the taxpayer has both the burden of overcoming the presumption of correctness and the burden to show whether the property is valued at its highest and best use.

• Opinion Date: March 6, 2001
• Real Property Law

Brown v. Borough of Glen Rock

TAXATION—A taxpayer cannot challenge a property’s assessment by attempting to show that either the land or the improvements are not properly valued; challenges may be made only to the property’s total assessment.

• Opinion Date: January 3, 2001
• Real Property Law

Kaplan Companies v. Cloverdale Road, L.P.

STATUTE OF FRAUDS—Where parties had been negotiating for the sale of a sizable tract of land involving complex issues and contingencies, a letter outlining the terms that had been brokered was held not to be an enforceable contract.

• Opinion Date: June 27, 2001
• Real Property Law

Esteves v. Esteves

TENANCY IN COMMON—When one tenant in common has been in sole possession of a property for a long time and demands contribution for operating and maintenance expenses in an accounting following its sale, fairness and equity dictate that the one seeking the contribution allow a corresponding credit for the value of the sole occupancy.

• Opinion Date: June 14, 2001
• Real Property Law

Dombrowski v. Hurson

SIDEWALKS; TREES—When a sidewalk is elevated by the roots of a tree, a person injured by tripping over the elevated portion must show that the neighboring property owner planted the tree where it should have been readily foreseen that the roots would grow to the sidewalk and cause the defect.

• Opinion Date: August 22, 2001
• Real Property Law

Wright v. Rappisi

SIDEWALKS; MIXED USE—In cases of hybrid use, when determining an abutting property owner’s liability for sidewalk injuries, one looks to whether the owner’s personal occupancy exceeds the owner’s commercial use of the property in terms of time and space.

• Opinion Date: February 1, 2001
• Real Property Law

Barclift v. Charles

SIDEWALKS—An owner-occupied house with house guests that contribute toward heat and electricity can still qualify as residential for purposes of sidewalk immunity.

• Opinion Date: December 7, 2001
• Real Property Law

Tamayo v. Borough of Lodi

SIDEWALKS—A single family home that has been unoccupied for fifteen years is still considered a residential property for the purpose of relieving its owner of the responsibility of making sidewalk repairs.

• Opinion Date: October 29, 2001
• Real Property Law

Escalante v. Gross

SIDEWALKS—A two-family home where one unit is owner-occupied is not a commercial property for the purpose of determining liability for sidewalk injuries.

• Opinion Date: September 12, 2001
• Real Property Law