Summary
In Hudson, in the face of pretrial procedures agreed to by the parties, plaintiff obtained three trial dates, each time appearing without obtaining an appraisal report.
Summary of this case from Jepson Refrigeration Corp. v. City of TrentonOpinion
Argued March 8, 1995.
Decided March 31, 1995.
William J. Sitar argued the cause for appellant ( Mandelbaum Mandelbaum, attorneys; Steven R. Irwin, of counsel; Mr. Sitar, on the brief).
Michael Kremen, Assistant Corporation Counsel, argued the cause for respondent ( Sean M. Connelly, Corporation Counsel; Mr. Kremen, of counsel and on the brief).
Before Judges KING, D'ANNUNZIO and EICHEN.
In this appeal from real property assessments, the taxpayer violated R. 8:6-1(b)(1)(ii). The rule requires that, in cases where no pretrial conference is held, a copy of the appraisal report of an evaluation expert must be furnished an adversary ten days prior to the date of trial. In the present case, the taxpayer's expert's report was provided on the day of trial. The City moved to suppress the report and the expert's testimony and the court, noting that this was the second preemptory trial listing for the case, the third listing overall, granted the motion. In the absence of proof to support the taxpayer's challenge to the assessment, judgment was entered in favor of the City. Thereafter, the court denied the taxpayer's motion for reconsideration.
The taxpayer appeals and we affirm. We perceive no basis to interfere with the trial court's discretion in this matter. It was the second preemptory trial listing and the taxpayer's violation of the rule was egregious. Moreover, no adequate explanation for the default was provided by the taxpayer on the original trial date or in the documents submitted in support of the taxpayer's motion for reconsideration.
Affirmed.