Philadelphia PA, and Haddonfield NJ: March 25, 2024: Weir Greenblatt Pierce LLP is pleased to announce that partners, Robert D. Sokolove, Esq. and Jennifer Hiller-Nimeroff, Esq. secured a $21,762,000 jury verdict for the owners of four properties in Haddonfield, New Jersey. These residents’ homes were severely damaged by flooding after a June 20, 2019, storm. The flooding was caused by backup in the Borough of Haddonfield’s stormwater management system, which resulted in the plaintiffs’ homes being significantly infiltrated by stormwater, fecal matter, and other wastewater materials.
The jury delivered the unanimous verdict against the Borough of Haddonfield following a 10-day trial before Judge Michael Kassel in the Camden County Superior Court, Law Division. The jury found that the Borough of Haddonfield’s stormwater management system was a dangerous condition of property that caused the plaintiffs’ damages, and that the actions or inactions taken by the Borough to protect against this dangerous condition were palpably unreasonable. The jury also found that the Borough’s conduct destroyed or substantially destroyed the beneficial use of the real property belonging to each of the plaintiffs.
Mr. Sokolove is a nationally recognized flood causation / flood damage attorney with over forty years’ experience representing businesses, individuals, developers, communities, and nonprofit organizations in a wide range of legal and regulatory matters involving flood insurance, flood risks, floodplain management, sea level rise, wetland regulation, lender liability and eco-development. Bob was FEMA’s first Associate General Counsel for flood insurance matters where he was responsible for all legal aspects involving flood risk as well as municipal and banking compliance and liability”.
Ms. Hiller-Nimeroff is an experienced lawyer with nearly 25 years of litigation experience, representing the interests of individuals and businesses in complex legal matters.
After the verdict, Mr Sokolove stated:
“We are so happy for our clients. These are very good people who had their lives turned upside down by what happened to them. Their lives were decimated, and they are still fighting to regain the normalcy they had before the flood. The jury saw the affect this had on our clients, some of them elderly, one who died without ever being able to return to his home. Some of their pets perished in the flood, and the images of what happened that day will never leave them. Both Jen and I are so very proud of the opportunity they have given us to represent them.
With more and greater rainfall and flooding events, government entities must be more vigilant in calibrating their activities to address the property risks which will occur in the future. This case and the jury’s substantial award to the plaintiffs sends a message to municipalities around the country that ignoring these risks is no longer legally acceptable. To the contrary, failing to address flood risks will likely lead to expensive liability for municipalities in the future.
We are very happy that the jury in this case appreciated these risks, the failures of the municipality to address these risks and held the Borough of Haddonfield responsible for the damages it caused. This should serve as a wake-up for towns and cities around the country. Flooding is no longer “business as usual.”
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Weir Greenblatt Pierce LLP is a full-service law firm providing sophisticated representation to businesses and individuals in such areas as Banking & Finance, Bankruptcy, Civil Rights, Complex Commercial Litigation, Corporate Restructuring & Creditors Rights, Criminal Defense, Employment, Family Law, Personal Injury, and Real Estate Transactions. For more information, please see wgpllp.com.
