Court Opinion

ID: 9650816
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 15:52:45.374947+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:26.329032
License: Public Domain

SCHREIBER, J.,
concurring.
Prior to trial the parties had exchanged a list of comparable sales. R. 4:73-ll(b). The plaintiff, the condemning authority, *107listed, among others, a sale from Stella D’Oro Biscuit Co. to Folgan Co. on April 30,1973, the deed being recorded in Book of Deeds 5769 at page 151 in the office of the Register of Deeds of Bergen County. Plaintiff’s expert, who had relied on this sale, testified on cross-examination that he had verified that sale with an attorney. At the conclusion of cross-examination, the defendants moved to strike that evidence on the ground it was based on objectionable hearsay. The motion was denied.
It is clear that the statute then in effect did not permit a witness to rely upon information or knowledge of a sale from someone other than “the owner, seller, purchaser, lessee or occupant of . [the] comparable land,” N.J.S.A. 2A:83-1 (amended by L.1979, c. 114, § 14). I do not agree with the majority that the Legislature intended to or did implicitly include the owner’s or seller’s attorney in the described group.
However, the consideration paid for the land is set forth in the recorded deed, a public record, as required by N.J.S.A. 46:15-6. Evidence Rule 63(29) provides that a statement contained in a conveyance or other instrument purporting to affect an interest in property is admissible to prove the truth of the matter stated. I would take judicial notice under Evidence Rules 12(2) and 9(2)(e) of the deed which is on record in the office of the Bergen County Register of Deeds and which recites the same consideration testified to by the expert. Therefore, defendants were not prejudiced with respect to verification of the sale price, the only objection raised by them at the time the expert testified.
Defendants had an opportunity to produce evidence questioning the bona fides of the sales price and the condition of the premises • at the time of the sale. This they failed to do. Moreover, even if the matter were remanded for a new trial, the evidence as adduced in the record would be admissible under the currently effective amended statute. L.1979, c. 114, §§ 14, 16.