Category: Real Property Law

Green v. Morgan Properties

LEASES; ATTORNEY’S FEES; CONSUMER FRAUD ACT — If a lease provides that a landlord will be reimbursed for attorney’s fees, those fees may be collected even if the landlord uses an in-house attorney, but if the landlord seeks to collect more than its actual and reasonable attorney’s fees, then it may be guilty of illegal fee splitting and may be violating the Consumer Fraud Act.

• Opinion Date: November 3, 2011

P.E.M. Construction and Development Co., Inc. v. EnCap Golf Holdings, LLC

CONTRACTORS — Even though a statute may require a regional authority to approve plans and obtain performance bonds for its own benefit, if the contracted work is not for the benefit of that authority, then a contractor has no right to demand that the developer for a public project be required to obtain a performance bond.

• Opinion Date: August 30, 2011

Shearn v. Victoriana Condominium Association

CONDOMINIUMS; REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS — The duty to provide reasonable accommodations does not require one to do everything possible to accommodate a disabled person and where a condominium association is not unreasonable in denying a parking space while a unit owner is behind in paying maintenance fees, if it applies that rule regardless of whether a unit owner is disabled or not.

• Opinion Date: November 23, 2011

Sabbagh v. Hampton Condominium Association, Inc.

CONDOMINIUMS; TENANTS — A condominium association cannot assume that someone occupying an owner’s unit is a tenant because the mere fact that someone is occupying with the acquiescence of its owner does not by law or implication create a tenancy.

• Opinion Date: November 21, 2011

Kane Properties, L.L.C. v. City of Hoboken

ZONING — When a governing body, such a municipal council, reviews a zoning board’s decision, it may do so de novo and is not limited to determining if its own zoning board acted unreasonably.

• Opinion Date: November 16, 2011

Dare Investments, LLC. v. Chicago Title Insurance Company

TITLE INSURANCE; INTERPRETATION — The doctrine of reasonable expectations construing ambiguous provisions against an insurance company is only applied when the insurance company is the expert and unilaterally prepares the policy for an insured layman unversed in insurance provisions and practices; it does not apply where the insured is a sophisticated commercial entity.

• Opinion Date: November 10, 2011

Fulbrook v. City of Camden

REDEVELOPMENT; CONFLICT OF INTEREST — If state law allows one person to hold two governmental roles, then it is not a conflict of interest in the land use and redevelopment process if that person serves in two roles in the process.

• Opinion Date: December 5, 2011

Cohn v. Hinger

LANDLORD-TENANT; HABITABILITY — If a residential tenant sues to recover damages based on an alleged defect in its premises, it must first have given its landlord notice of the defect, requested correction, and gives its landlord a reasonable time to correct the defect.

• Opinion Date: December 29, 2011

Shoreline Electrical Contractors, Inc. v. Hafen

CONTRACTORS — If a homeowner suing its contractor wishes to present government documents, such as inspection reports, that do not bear a signature affixed to them in an official capacity by a governmental officer or employee, the homeowner must furnish extrinsic evidence of authenticity, such as a certification that the document is a copy of an original record.

• Opinion Date: December 28, 2011

Capital Bank of New Jersey v. Goldstein

LOANS; DEEDS — Although a borrower’s ordinary expectation in giving a deed in lieu is that the lender is accepting the deed in satisfaction of a debt, if the parties have a written agreement to the contrary, then the provisions of the written agreement will prevail.

• Opinion Date: December 16, 2011