July

New Jersey Supreme Court Side with Harvey Cedars in Dune Compensation Case. The New Jersey Supreme Court has unanimously sided with the Borough of Harvey Cedars in an important case regarding the proper degree of compensation owed to homeowners in cases where eminent domain is applied to construct protective sand dunes along the shore. Lower courts had previously ruled that homeowners were due potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars per case for decreased property value associated with the construction of dunes. However, the N.J. Supreme Court ruled that the protective benefits derived from such dunes should be included in the calculation of the compensation packages, thus drastically reducing their potential payout. The ruling is considered a victory for municipalities along the shore who faced potentially prohibitive costs in implementing protective barriers and beach replenishment projects if the lower court ruling had stood.