Court Opinion

ID: 9468915
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:26:45.694122+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:41:06.921059
License: Public Domain

ADAMS, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I concur in the judgment reached by the Court today, namely, that the order declaring the New Jersey lis pendens statute to be unconstitutional should be reversed.
As the opinions by Judge Sloviter and Judge Hunter demonstrate, there are several routes by which one can arrive at this result. Although I recognize substantial merit in the position of Judge Hunter that there is no “taking” here, and that, in view of the statements of the United States Supreme Court in Flagg Bros., Inc. v. Brooks, 436 U.S. 149, 98 S.Ct. 1729, 56 L.Ed.2d 185 (1978), it is at the very least arguable that *1334there is no state action as well, I am persuaded by the reasoning, set forth by Judge Sloviter, that the clearest ground for reversal is that the procedure under the New Jersey law is sufficient to satisfy any constitutional requirement of due process that may apply. Where several constitutional questions of equal priority are implicated and resolution of any one of them will lead to the same outcome, I believe it prudent to rest the decision on the ground that under present interpretation of the law is most free from doubt. Rather than reach out to address and decide constitutional questions that are more troublesome and less clearly governed by existing law, I join in the portion of the opinion by Judge Sloviter that holds that Fedders’ due process rights were not violated by the filing of a lis pendens by Chrysler.