Long Branch, N.J.: Residents and the IJ attorneys representing them are still waiting for their day in appellate court. Full background on the Long Branch case here.
National City, Calif. : On Friday, a California Superior Court judge dismissed IJ’s entire case arguing for the reversal of the blight designation on the Community Youth Athletic Center.
According to California’s complicated procedural rules, if one brings a lawsuit against a city’s redevelopment plan, the party suing has to publish a public legal notice of suit so that should any other private citizen feel that the municipality would be unable to defend its own plan, that private citizen can defend the plan. In the case of National City, the deadline on the public notice was off by one business day required by California law. That aside, the case brought by IJ had constitutional claims, for which there is substantial federal and state court precedent stating that cases with such claims cannot be dismissed outright on procedural technicalities without significance to the constitutional claims. It’s for that reason that IJ attorneys have confidence in their efforts to appeal.
Click for full background on National City.