Township Files Lawsuit Against JCP&L

The Mayor’s threat of filing a lawsuit against JCP&L wasn’t an empty one. Mayor Menashe Miller – who made it it his priority to have the lights fixed – confirmed to TLS that Township Attorney Jan Wouters of Bathgate & Wegner several days ago filed a lawsuit in Ocean County’s Superior Court against JCP&L.

“When you walk out of your home, you shut the lights so you don’t pay for electricity you don’t use, why should the Township pay for elctricity it’s not using?” Mayor Menashe Miller tells TLS.

The Mayor explained that unlike in a home, the street lights  are hard wired directly to the power lines. The Township pays a flat fee for each street light, and for the Township to be required to pay for those lights not working, is just not right, the Mayor said.

The first thing the Township did, upon the suggestion of Committeeman Meir Lichtenstien, was hold back any payments from the electric company.

“Committeeman Lichtenstien did a great job holding back payment from the company, but it seems it wasn’t enough”, the Mayor said.

The lawsuit is seeking damages and legal fees for failing to repair the nearly 500 broken street lights in Lakewood. TLS.

 

 

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18 COMMENTS

  1. no taxes will not go down as energy costs are going up, and the electric company will rate the township at a higher rate so in the end run, we will be paying more.

  2. Something tells me that JCP&L isn’t scared. Their parent company (First Energy) had revenues of $4.7 BILLION DOLLARS and a net income of $509 MILLION DOLLARS in the 3rd quarter of 2011.

    I’m just curious to know what their game plan is with this one.. I guess we have to wait and watch their legal team’s court (and BPU) filings to understand what their ultimate strategy really is..

    Stay tuned..

  3. Think it is a good idea to sue the power company? They have deep, deep pockets and can drag this out for years. What do you think it will cost us, the tax payers? By the time this come to a court decision JCP&L will have them all fixed and it will be a non issue and the case will be dismissed and we will get nothing but a big bill for the lawyers.

  4. Jcpl IS scared. Negative publicity never bodes well. As for the law suit- we’ll have to see how that stands up in court. Let’s just hope this isn’t anothe smoke and mirrors bluff that does nothing in the end.

  5. So if the town does not provide services that it supposed to I can stop paying my taxes, very foolish move .in the long run its going to cost more for this approach

  6. I’ve said this in the past but what I like about this Mayor is that he is passionate about the town and its people.
    Mayor Miller can be soft and warm to the people who are in need of his help, yet he can be tough and brave to go to war against JCP&L.

  7. Very well said about the Mayor Miller’s soft side and tough side.
    We’ve all seen the pictures of the Mayor handing a shovel to a child during a ground breaking ceremony to include them and make them feel part of the event but his voice still resinates in my mind from January 3rd when he blasted JCP&L and threatened to sue if they don’t get their act together. He kept his word…..

  8. Yeah good luck with that..your electric bills will go up again to support the lawsuit on their side..Its a great Idea but Lakewood is not the only town suffering..I think its a manpower issue..no one wants to pay OT so they only have the trouble truck doing it when they can at night..you can not repair a light during the day because they have to see it not working

  9. We are all speculating here.

    Sit back, relax and time will tell.

    If JCP&L jumps on the repairs then we’ll know the suit was successful. If not then it wasn’t. Pretty simple.

Comments are closed.