Residents, engineering
firm settle septic suit
BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer
MANALAPAN — The Elton Point septic tank lawsuit which has drawn on for about four years has been settled out of court.
Elton Point is a development off Route 537 near Manalapan’s border with Freehold Township. Residents claimed there were deficiencies in the septic system that were costing thousands of dollars to repair.
"The 16 families of plaintiffs suing Elton Point and Schoor DePalma (engineering firm) settled for about 60 percent of approximately $400,000 proven damages," said Stuart Moskovitz, the attorney who represented the Elton Point residents. "We settled out of court."
Moskovitz said it was unfortunate that officials at Schoor DePalma, which is based in Manalapan, forced the residents through years of litigation.
"The residents shouldn’t have had to spend what they spent on legal fees to get Schoor DePalma to stand behind its work," said the attorney.
"There was an out-of-court settlement with regard to the issues at Elton Point," said Skip Cimino, a senior executive with Schoor DePalma. "I think the settlement agreement and the settlement speaks for itself. I don’t believe there is any necessity to comment any further."
Moskovitz said that as part of the settlement, he will not be allowed to represent any other Elton Point families or individuals in a septic system lawsuit against Schoor DePalma.
"That was their No. 1 criteria," the attorney said. "They wouldn’t settle without that. They were so obsessed with my going against them that they were going to kill the whole agreement if I didn’t agree to that."
Moskovitz said that stand ties in with what Schoor DePalma was doing in 2001 when the firm tried to get him out of the Elton Point case by naming Manalapan as a defendant in the action and alleging that Moskovitz had a conflict of interest. Moskovitz was a member of the Township Committee at the time.
"All that the DeCotiis (Fitzpatrick, Gluck, Hayden and Cole, of Teaneck) firm, which was representing Manalapan, had to do at that time was to file a motion because Manalapan didn’t belong in the lawsuit," Moskovitz said. "DeCotiis didn’t do that. The judge (Superior Court Judge Robert W. O’Hagan) told the township to file the motion within 60 days and so (DeCotiis) spent $25,000 of taxpayers money."
Moskovitz said O’Hagan was certain that Manalapan did not belong in the case as a defendant, but said the attorneys representing Elton Point claimed they needed to take some discovery to be sure that Manalapan did not belong.
"DeCotiis never filed that motion again," said Moskovitz. "They spent $25,000 of taxpayers’ money to stay in the suit instead of trying to get out. If you’re Manalapan’s attorney and you’ve been named as a third party defendant, don’t you want to try to get out?"
Moskovitz said it was he who had to force them out of the case.
"DeCotiis was replaced by another law firm, Cahill Branciforte and Hoebich, of New Brunswick, on this case," said Moskovitz. "The law firm filed the motion and Manalapan was thrown out immediately and the judge (Superior Court Judge James J. McGann) ruled that I never did have a conflict, even if Manalapan stayed in the suit."
McGann ruled on the conflict issue before he ruled whether or not Manalapan belonged in the case, Moskovitz said. That was only days before the primary election in June 2001, in which Moskovitz was defeated.