We were all set to write up the New Jersey Supreme Court's opinion in Borough of Merchantville v. Malik & Son, LLC, No. A-55 (Aug. 7, 2014) when we thought to ourselves "Tony Della Pelle and his crew at NJ Condemnation Law probably have this one covered already."
Sure enough, they did. See "NJ Supreme Court: Condemnor Has No Duty to Negotiate with Holder of Mortgage," a writeup of the case by Joseph Grather. The title of that post tells you most of what you need to know about the decision: the court held that the condemnor only must engage in bona fide negotiations with the "title holder of record." Why? Because the statute says it does, pretty plainly. Which means that it doesn't have to engage with mortgage holders. Confirming again that old canon of statutory construction, "read the statute, read the statute, read the statute."
Borough of Merchantville v Malik & So, LLC, No. A-66 (N.J. Aug. 7, 2014)
