Case Studies for Lisa J. Hamameh

Plaintiff owned property adjacent to two vacant residential parcels that were granted a lot split and variance to construct two new homes through a consent judgment that resolved a prior lawsuit between the Township and Plaintiff’s neighbor. Plaintiff claimed that the consent judgment was improperly approved, but did not participate in the litigation that generated the consent judgment or challenge the consent judgment thereafter. Instead, Plaintiff filed its own lawsuit against the Township and its neighbor seeking to invalidate the consent judgment, and alleging due process violations. Affirming the trial court’s grant of summary disposition to the Township, the Court of Appeals held that, as Plaintiff had failed to establish that the underlying consent judgment was void, Plaintiff lacked standing to collaterally attack the consent judgment in a separate lawsuit.