Tax Court: Washington Shopping Center, Inc. v. Washington Township;Docket Nos. 005517-2016, 002869-2017, 006408-2018, opinion by Novin, J.T.C., decided February 11, 2021, and released for publication March 2, 2021. For plaintiff – Lawrence S. Berger (Berger & Bornstein, LLC, attorneys); for defendant - Martin Allen (Di Francesco, Bateman, Kunzman, Davis, Lehrer & Flaum, P.C., attorneys).
During trial, the court concluded that plaintiff could not compel the testimony of defendant’s proposed testifying expert against the proposed testifying expert’s wishes, or without his consent. Additionally, the court determined that plaintiff offered no evidence that defendant’s proposed testifying expert witness possessed superior knowledge of the facts or that his testimony would have elicited more meaningful insight into the property than plaintiff’s testifying expert. Accordingly, the court declined to apply an adverse inference charge. The court further concluded that post-trial briefs must be confined to the facts disclosed in the trial record, or those reasonably suggested by the evidence introduced during trial. In affirming the local property tax assessments, the court found plaintiff’s expert’s highest and best use analysis flawed and his conclusion that approximately sixty-one percent of the subject property’s building area should be demolished not credible.