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As a senior member of Connell Foley’s Real
Estate Law and Land Use Department, Kevin J.
Coakley focuses his practice on development
and redevelopment projects throughout the
state of
New Jersey. During a
career that has spanned thirty-five years,
he has developed extensive experience with
zoning, permitting, condemnation, wetlands
and tidelands matters. Mr. Coakley is also a
member of the firm’s Environmental Law
Practice Group. His practice involves
significant interaction with government
including numerous N.J.D.E.P. land use
permit matters.
Mr.
Coakley has been counsel of record in
approximately 60 published decisions, most
involving governmental matters.
He has represented the developers of
Bridgewater Commons Mall since its
inception. The Mall is a commercial
development of over 2,000,000 square feet in Bridgewater Township
in
Somerset County, New Jersey.
Mr. Coakley has significant expertise in
litigation based on Fifth Amendment takings
claims. He was counsel to the successful
plaintiff in the landmark inverse
condemnation case of
Loveladies
Harbor v. United States, 28 F3d 11721 (Fed.
Cir. 1994).
He is particularly skilled in the use of
litigation to challenge adverse rulings in
development projects from regulators,
including municipal bodies and state
agencies. Examples of his successes in this
area include the $1.6 million settlement in
Estate of Desiderio v. State of New Jersey. Mr. Coakley brought suit on his
client’s behalf after the State of
New Jersey
barred residential development of the
client’s property, which included wetlands
in
Ocean
County.
Mr. Coakley is a member of the firm’s Solar
Practice Group which has represented
developers of 30MW of Solar PV projects in
2011.
Additionally, in 2006 Mr. Coakley
successfully settled two class action
lawsuits on behalf of out-of-state members
of the trucking industry against the State
of New Jersey. The
settlements resulted in $8.25 million being
refunded by the State to trucking companies
that had been forced to pay unconstitutional
fees. As a result of his efforts, Connell
Foley was successful in removing a
long-standing state tax against trucking
companies; getting the state to refund back
taxes to those involved; and having the
state permanently enjoined from imposing
flat, unapportioned fees on the trucking
industry.
Mr. Coakley has been ranked by Chambers USA
2009-2011, as a leader in Real Estate Law
and been named in Best Lawyers in America
from 1999-2011 in the fields of Eminent
Domain and Condemnation Law and Real Estate
Law. He has also been recognized as a
New Jersey
Super Lawyer.
Mr. Coakley serves as a Trustee and Board
Member for New Jersey Alliance for
Action. He is a member of the Land Use
Committee of the New Jersey Builders
Association (NJBA). In 2008, Mr. Coakley was
elected as a Fellow of the American Bar
Foundation of New Jersey. He is a former
member of the New Jersey Supreme Court
Committee for the Tax Court and a former
member of the Board of Trustees of the Blue
Shield Plan of New Jersey, as well as former
chairman of the Lawyers Advertising
Committee of the New Jersey State Bar
Association. At
Rutgers
Law School,
Mr. Coakley served as a Member of the Law
Review. Upon graduation, he became the
Law Secretary to the Honorable John W.
Fritz, New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate
Division (1972-1973).
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