New Challenge in Shipwrecked Lawsuit

The Village of Egg Harbor and Shipwrecked are sparring over the unused sliver of land between the building at left and County Road G, where the village would like to put a sidewalk to guide pedestrians toward the public beach. Photo by Myles Dannhausen Jr.

Judge David Weber ruled Nov. 24 that the Village of Egg Harbor may condemn a piece of the Shipwrecked Brew Pub’s property to build a sidewalk, but the issue is not quite settled. 

The owners of Shipwrecked had sued the Village after it condemned .009 acres along the edge of its building to construct a sidewalk from the corner of County G and Highway 42 to an off-road walking path a few hundred feet south. Shipwrecked had argued that a sidewalk is a pedestrian path, and state law does not allow a municipality to condemn a property for a pedestrian path. The Village contended that it was indeed a sidewalk, and that the Village needed to condemn the property for utilities as well. 

However, the day after the ruling, Weber scheduled a new hearing to decide on Shipwrecked’s argument that the Village did not respond in time to the original complaint filed by the owners of Shipwrecked.

The Village argues that, as an agency of the state, it had 45 days to respond to the complaint filed by the owners of Shipwrecked – who argue that the Village is not an agency of the state, but rather, a municipal corporation, and thus it had only 20 days to serve its answer to Shipwrecked’s lawsuit. 

Weber will rule on the issue Jan. 5.