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George McGill appointed Bradley Beach Borough Attorney

PQA Partner George D. McGill was appointed Bradley Beach Borough Attorney by Mayor Julie Schreck at the Borough’s annual reorganization meeting on July 1, 2010, and confirmed by a unanimous Borough Council. This will be McGill’s second tenure as Bradley Beach Borough Attorney. He previously served as Borough Attorney from 2001 through 2002, and had served from 1994 to 2001 as the Assistant Borough Attorney, in the absence of then Borough Attorney Joseph Quinn.

George McGill has a wide range of experience in municipal law, including land use matters, tax appeals and municipal litigation, including local public contract law, Title 59 matters and Alcoholic Beverage Licensing. He also is experienced in a number of other practice areas which touch on municipal law, including workers compensation, the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, the Conscientious Employee Protection Act, and has appeared before numerous courts, boards and administrative tribunals.

In addition to the Borough of Bradley Beach, Mr. McGill’s public entity clients include the Board of Adjustment of the City of Trenton; the Planning Board of the Borough of Spring Lake; and the Planning Board of the Borough of Spring Lake Heights.

PQA Wins Victory for Borough of Red Bank

PQA attorney Tom Hall recently won an important victory for the Borough of Red Bank and its children in the matter of General Sports Venue, L.L.C. d/b/a Astroturf v. Borough of Red Bank and Precise Construction Inc., Docket No., MON-L-2411-10. The Borough advertised bids to install a synthetic turf sports field. In the bid specifications, Red Bank reserved the right to choose the specific type of turf to be used within ten days of bid award. Precise Construction was the low bidder and specified that it would perform all preparatory and site work and use synthetic turf manufactured and installed by Astroturf. After the bid opening and at the municipality’s request, Precise agreed to substitute higher grade Field Turf brand synthetic turf at no additional cost. Astroturf sued both the Borough and Precise. Astroturf argued that because it had a subcontractor relationship with Precise, Red Bank violated the public bidding laws by improperly switching subcontractors and that the ten-day review process effectively created a sole source bid that only Field Turf could win. PQA successfully defended the Borough by proving to the Court’s satisfaction that Astroturf was not a subcontractor, but a mere supplier that had no standing to challenge the bid specifications. PQA also successfully argued that the prohibitions against “contractor shopping” and “sole source specifications” in the Local Public Contract Law were not violated under the facts of this case. Most significantly, PQA discovered emails that Astroturf’s sales manager sent to the Borough which proved that Astroturf willingly participated in Red Bank’s ten day turf review process, even going so far as to invite a contingent of Red Bank officials on a fully paid visit to Astroturf’s Georgia factory. Given this evidence, the Court ruled that Astroturf was prohibited from challenging the legality of the ten day turf review process when it unsuccessfully participated in that very same process, instead of challenging that process prior to the receipt of bids as required by the public bidding laws.

Pringle presents at Monmouth University Climate Adaptation Conference

PQA Managing Partner Ken Pringle gave a presentation at the Climate Change Conference held at Monmouth University on January 15, 2010, on the panel discussing Potential Impact on Coastal Communities: Response & Adaptation Strategies. The conference was sponsored by the Monmouth Ocean Development Council, the Jersey Shore Partnership and Monmouth University’s Urban Coast Institute. Pringle, who is also the mayor of Belmar, is a member of the Urban Coast Institute’s Advisory Committee. His presentation outlined Belmar’s five-step blueprint for assessing the Borough’s vulnerabilities to storm damage and other emergencies, coordinating resources between departments and other agencies, and developing prompt and effective communication strategies for keeping residents informed and prepared.

Pringle speaks on EPA Climate Change Panel

On June 8, 2010, PQA managing partner Ken Pringle spoke on the opening stakeholders panel of EPA’s three-day national conference, “Resilient Water Management Strategies for a Changing Climate: Developing Decision-Support Tools for Local Communities.” The bi-coastal conference was held simultaneously by teleconference to live audiences in EPA’s Region 2 office in New York City and Region 9 office in San Francisco, and broadcast nationally via webinar. Pringle, who has served for 20 years as the mayor of Belmar, NJ, spoke about the steps that his coastal community has taken to prepare for the impacts of climate change.

The panel followed a keynote address by Andy Resnick, who writes the New York Time’s Dot Earth blog. Other panel members included: Aaron Koch, Policy Advisor, New York City Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability; Jay Bloomfield, Chief of Inland Lakes and Fresh Waters, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation; Susanne DeRoches, Sustainable Design Manager, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; and Rebecca Weidman, Director of Water Resource Protection, New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission.

Appellate Division Upholds PQA’s Win in Dismissal of $245 Million Suit

On March 16, 2010, the Appellate Division handed down a per curiam opinion in which the court upheld Superior Judge Daniel M. Waldman’s earlier dismissal of a suit that sought $245 million in damages from PQA’s client. PQA was first retained in July 2008 to defend the highly-publicized case, which was brought by the shareholders of a subsidiary of the client’s former employer, an international securities firm that is publicly traded on the NASDAQ exchange. The suit alleged breaches of fiduciary duty and based its claim of $245 million in damages on changes in price of the shares of the publicly traded parent corporation, which change plaintiffs’ contended was attributable to the alleged breach of fiduciary duty. See below for a further discussion of the case. The Appellate Division issued a 13-page opinion in support of its decision, affirming the dismissal for the reasons relied upon by Judge Waldman below. PQA partner Ken Pringle argued the case on appeal.