As previously reported here on FAA News (https://www.faanews.com/2022/08/lawsuit-seeks-to-immediately-shut-down.html), a lawsuit filed in Ocean County Superior Court seeks to shut down Bnos Brocha's simcha hall on the basis that the school never received Township Zoning Board approval for a banquet hall which is not a permitted use in the industrial park, and a hearing on the case was previously scheduled for this Friday.
Bnos Brocha is located at 1665 Corporate Road West. The lawsuit was filed by Clayton Associates, which is located at 1650 Oak Street, in back of Clayton's property.
At a previous hearing on the matter held before Judge Marlene Ford on February 17, 2022, Attorney Howard Lipstein representing Bnos Brocha responded that the simcha hall is not "for business purposes", but rather, "Bnos Brocha is a community school for the Religious Jewish community, and the banquet hall is used strictly for religious events by members of the community school".
At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Ford signed an Order permitting continued usage of the simcha hall, however, "only for school purposes by defendant Bnos Brocha and/or any successors, vendors, for purposes associated with the school and not for business or commercial use."
So... We learned that the Bnos Brocha simcha hall is allowed to be used "only for school purposes by defendant Bnos Brocha and vendors", and that is used "strictly for religious events by members of the community school".
Until June 22nd that is.
Clayton obtained a copy of Bnos Brocha's school calendar which indicates that their last day of school was June 22nd.
Clayton has also obtained a copy of the simcha hall use agreement which indicates that for a fee, the school does rent out the hall - in contrast to the representation by their attorney at the February 17, 2022 hearing.
Clayton's investigative team observed the simcha hall being used on 16 days since the school year ended.
In response, Clayton has now filed a Motion to Enforce Litigant's Rights seeking to immediately cease all activity in the simcha hall "until such time as it receives all requisite and unappealable approvals for same".
In the moving documents, Attorney Rob Shea who represents Bnos Brocha notes that "each event contained similar characteristics; numerous patrons were seen entering and exiting the property. These patrons parked along both sides of Corporate Road, this creating heavy traffic congestion and rendering the road a one-way street with cars attempting to navigate around one another to safely pass. Furthermore, patrons also parked in the surrounding accessways, including Plaintiffs, this preventing ingress or egress to the properties."
The motion continues that on at least one date in August, there were "over 100 cars parked on Corporate Road. Several cars were parked facing the wrong direction and others [were] parked in front of accessways of the surrounding properties including Plaintiffs, and even inside Plaintiffs parking lot itself... The resulting traffic made it difficult for cars and trucks to navigate the road... On one occasion, a tractor trailer was forced to wait at the end of the roadway for the street to clear before it could pass safely".
Clayton's motion seeks to order Bnos Brocha to "c/immediately cease all activity in its catering/banquet hall known as “Simcha Hall” until such time as it receives all requisite and unappealable approvals for same;" as well to recover legal fees and order monetary sanctions.
This motion was filed on August 24th.
Judge Ford was previously scheduled to release a decision this Friday September 9th.
Neither Bnos Brocha nor the Township have yet submitted Opposition to the motion.
However, at the request of Bnos Brocha's attorney Mr. Lipstein, Judge Ford has consented to a two-week adjournment until Friday September 23rd.
Mr. Lipstein's letter contains:
Dear Judge Ford:
I represent the Defendant Bnos Brocha Inc. in the above matter. The Plaintiff filed a
Motion to Enforce Litigant’s Rights returnable on September 9, 2022. The motion was filed at
4:35pm on Wednesday, August 24, 2022, and I did not see same until Thursday, August 25,
2022, at which time I was leaving for Austin Texas and returning today, August 30, 2022. Also,
September 5, 2022 is Labor Day.
I spoke to my adversary Robert Shea, Esq. requesting a two-week adjournment of his
motion to which he said he could not consent. The purpose of this letter is to request a two-week adjournment in that I have other court obligations to meet this week and next week and it will be very hard to prepare a timely response as a result of all of the aforesaid.
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