Legal Question in Administrative Law in New Jersey
Settlement is not being honored. What are my options?
I sued my condominium board in Small Claims Court for failure to make repairs. After a 2-hour trial we entered into a settlement on the record. No moneys were to be paid by the Defendant, but they were supposed to perform some work. Time had passed, but the defendant did not do the work.
What are my options? All I could come up with was: (1) move to enforce the settlement? (2) move to vacate the settlement and reinstate the original claim? Can�t say that I like any of these ideas.
I would appreciate any advice.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Settlement is not being honored. What are my options?
Unless your agreement says you can vacate the settlement and go back to the original claim, you probably won't be able to do that. A settlement is usually regarded as a bar to relief on the old claim; your only claim would be on the terms of the settlement (although this might not necessarily be the case).
If the repairs to your unit remain unfixed, it could be regarded as a continuing harm, i.e., you have a new harm every day they don't fix it, so could in essence bring the same or a similar claim.
None of this gets your repairs done, however.
If you do have to go to court again, this time, ask the judge to make the defendant put a substantial sum of money in escrow, which they can only get out once the repairs are completed to your satisfaction and pass an inspection by a qualified inspector.
It's worth a try, anyway.
Maybe you could get legal fees. Oh, yeah, you have to have a lawyer to have legal fees. So, why not hire a lawyer, and do this RIGHT?
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