On April 24, 2025 the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey issued a decision in the matter of IMO of the Application of the Township of Wayne and the Planning Board of the Township of Wayne reversing two (2) orders by the trial court in favor of Developer AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (“Developer”). The trial court had ruled that the Township and its Planning Board acted in bad faith and breached a settlement agreement based on the Board’s resolutions imposing conditions in its approval of the Developer’s application for site plan approval for an affordable housing development and awarded attorneys’ fees and per diem penalties to the Developer based on those findings. Representing the Township, Mary Anne Groh of the Firm, successfully obtained a complete reversal by the Appellate Division of both orders by the trial court. 

On appeal, the Appellate Division vacated the trial court findings, concluding the evidence did not establish that the Township or Board acted in bad faith, that the Board improperly handled the adoption of resolutions approving the application with conditions, or that the Township or Board breached the settlement agreement. The Appellate Division reversed the trial court’s orders and, consequently, vacated the invalidation of a resolution adopted by the Board requiring an elevator with ambulance stretcher access in all residential buildings and the awards of attorneys’ fees and per diem penalties.