JAMES O. WELCH v. CHAI CENTER FOR LIVING JUDAISM, INC. (C-000153-12, ESSEX COUNTY AND STATEWIDE)


NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court ." Although it is posted on the internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3. SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY APPELLATE DIVISION DOCKET NO. A-3447-19 JAMES O. WELCH, THE ROBERT J. DWYER TRUST and S. ALEXANDER and JESSICA HAVERSTICK, Plaintiffs, and VIRGINIA WELCH, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. CHAI CENTER FOR LIVING JUDAISM, INC., Defendant-Appellant, and HARRY GROSS, Defendant. Submitted December 7, 2021 – Decided September 9, 2022 Before Judges Messano and Accurso. On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Chancery Division, Essex County, Docket No. C-000153-12. Epstein Ostrove, LLC and Philip Pfeffer (Herbert Smith Freehills New York, LLP), attorneys for appellant (Elliot D. Ostrove and Philip Pfeffer, on the briefs). Connell Foley LLP, attorneys for respondent (Kevin J. Coakley and Nicole B. Dory, of counsel and on the brief; Mary Hurley Kellett, on the brief). PER CURIAM In 2014, the Chancery Division entered judgment for plaintiff Virginia Welch and others, on count II of her 2012 complaint in which she sought, inter alia, to declare defendant Chai Center for Living Judaism, Inc.'s "current uses of Lot 10 [1 Jefferson Avenue, Short Hills] as violative of the restrictions in the 1949 deed" and "[e]njoining the current uses of Lot 10 and restricting the uses of Lot 10 to residential use in conformance with the restrictions in the 1949 deed." Acknowledging, however, that Chai Center had "been functioning as an Orthodox Jewish synagogue serving as a place of worship" for many people for almost ten years, the judge sua sponte stayed the judgment pending appeal. We affirmed that judgment in its entirety, Welch v. Chai Ctr. for Living Judaism, Inc., A-4088-13, A-4163-13 (App. Div. Aug. 15, 2016), and A-3447-19 2 the Supreme Court denied Chai Center's petition for certification, Welch v. Chai Ctr. for Living Judaism, Inc., 230 N.J. 402 (2017). When Chai Center continued its operations with little change after it had exhausted its appeal, counsel for Welch sent cease and desist letters in 2018 and 2019. When those letters did not induce compliance with the judgment, Welch filed a motion in aid of litigant's rights under Rule 1:10-3. Relying largely on Chai Center's own website and Facebook pages, Welch included in her motion papers hundreds of pages of advertisements, posts and photos documenting the non-residential activities on the property, including weekly religious services, celebrations and services for religious holidays, an adult religious education program, and a Hebrew school. By including documents from both before and after the first appeal, Welch documented the activities that continued on the property after the Supreme Court denied certification in 2017. Among those documents was a July 3, 2019 printout from Chai Center's website advertising events held at 1 Jefferson Avenue between March and June 2019, including weekly prayer services on Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday "open to …

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