Once again, a state Superior Court Judge has dismissed a lawsuit against West Windsor filed by Rajeshwar Singh and Roopa Yadav alleging the township has unfairly prevented them from subdividing their property on North Post Road.
The decision, handed down in July, marks the 10th lawsuit filed by the couple since 1983, all of which have been ruled in favor of West Windsor.##M:[more]##
The issue began when the Yadavs applied for a subdivision in 1981 to build seven single family homes on their four-acre lot. West Windsor’s zoning restricted them from doing so, and the couple was therefore denied by the planning board, and the issue went into litigation. In 1983 the matter was settled in front of a Superior Court judge, when the couple was granted a conditional subdivision approval, which allowed the couple to build single-family homes. But instead of building, the Yadavs sued the township, claiming their conditions were illegal.
When a New Jersey judge ruled that the conditions were lawful, the Yadavs filed federal cases claiming the township did not grant subdivisions to Asians, particularly of Indian descent.
The most recent lawsuit stems from a zoning change this past January, which changed the name of the R-1A zone to the R-1C zone. The Yadavs alleged that their rights were denied because they were never notified of the change in the zoning and that they should have had a right to oppose it. Township Attorney Michael W. Herbert said, however, that the township was not required to notify the Yadavs because it really doesn’t have an affect on their property. “There’s also no requirement to notify because it was contemplated during the change in the Master Plan,” he said.
Township officials said the change simply expanded the zone to include properties near the county park, and that the Yadavs’ property was not changed at all.
Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg has agreed with this argument. In her written decision, she stated that “when a zoning classification or boundary change is part of a recommended change to the master plan, notice is not required.” In addition, “the plaintiffs’ rights regarding subdivision of their property remained the same under the zoning redesignation as they were prior to the redesignation. Simply put, the re-designation of the zone has no impact on plaintiffs’ property.”
Further, she wrote: “In this case, it is hard to believe that plaintiffs, reasonably and in good faith, believed in the validity of the argument that the zoning re-designation was arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable as applied to their property.”
The township had also asked for “injunctive relief,” a provision that would bar the Yadavs from filing any future litigation without review and approval by the court. However, Feinberg said that “restraining all future filings is a drastic and draconian remedy considering plaintiffs have been sanctioned only once, by this court in 2006. That is a clearly better option, given the status of this case.”
Feinberg did warn that if future lawsuits were filed, an injunction would be considered, and she granted the township attorney’s fees to be paid by the Yadavs. Township Attorney Michael Herbert estimated that the “township can expect to recover somewhere in the neighborhood of $6,”000, which was similar to the award given with dismissal of the previous lawsuit,” which was about $7,”600.
Herbert, however, said the drama is not over, and he expects the Yadavs will continue pursuing litigation against the township. “They’re going to file a motion to reconsider what the judge wrote. The judge will deny that. They’re going to file an appeal,” he said. He said the Yadavs will appeal all the way to the Supreme Court, which will also deny hearing the case. “My only disappointment in all of this is that Judge Feinberg didn’t issue an injunction against the Yadavs,” he said. “She felt that the sanctions would be enough.”
“I believe at this point, the Yadavs are not understanding of reality that their case is over,” Herbert added. “I think they believe if they file the same litigation enough times, they’ll go ahead and win at some point.”
