Opinion ID: 1036612
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Closure Act Claim

Text: Finally, the Litgo Appellants requested rescission of the Sales Agreement under the New Jersey Closure Act, which requires sellers of land to disclose whether the property has ever been used as a landfill in the contract of sale. N.J. Stat. Ann. § 13:1E-116(a). Contracts that do not disclose that there was a landfill on the property are voidable. Id. § 13:1E116(b). The Litgo Appellants argued at trial that there had been a sanitary landfill on the Litgo Property, and that the Sanzari Appellees failed to disclose that fact. The District Court determined that there was insufficient evidence to find that there had been a sanitary landfill. We cannot say that the District Court’s conclusion was clearly erroneous. Although evidence presented at trial 61 demonstrated that there was a landfill on the properties adjacent to the Litgo Property, the evidence was ambiguous as to whether the Property itself had been put to such a use. The District Court listed its reasons for finding that the Litgo Appellants had not shown by a preponderance of the evidence that the Property was used as a landfill, which included: (1) lack of documentary evidence; (2) physical evidence suggesting that the Property had not been used for such a purpose; and (3) physical evidence suggesting that the Property would not have been a good site to use for such a purpose. Because these findings are supported by the record, the District Court did not err in denying the Litgo Appellants’ request for rescission.