One tool often utilized is the filing of a lis pendens, a Latin term meaning "suit pending." In Virginia, the lis pendens memorandum serves as a notice to prospective buyers, lenders, or interested parties that a property is subject to a claim involved in litigation.
A form notice of lis pendens to file with a county recording office in New Jersey to provide constructive notice to third parties that a legal proceeding is pending in a New Jersey court that asserts a claim against title or some other ownership interest in the real property.
Recording with the Circuit Court Clerk: Once drafted, the lis pendens memorandum must be recorded with the Circuit Court Clerk in the jurisdiction where the property is located. Recording ensures that the memorandum becomes part of the public record and is accessible to anyone conducting due diligence on the property.
A memorandum of lis pendens admitted to record in an action to enforce a zoning ordinance shall expire after 180 days.
A lis pendens can only be filed if an action is pending. Additionally, the pending suit must involve real property, such as land and buildings. If these requirements are not met, the notice can be expunged.
The doctrine requires more than a mere allegation of a pending suit; it requires proof the prior case is the same, the parties are substantially the same, and the relief requested is the same. This three-pronged identity test must be strictly applied when a party seeks to dismiss a claim under the doctrine.
A lis pendens effectively clouds the title to the property described in the notice and impedes a subsequent sale or encumbrance of the property until the litigation is resolved or the lis pendens is expunged.
The court ultimately adopted a common interest doctrine that (1) applies in connection with “actual or anticipated litigation”; (2) can protect communications among participants who share a “common purpose” (because “the common interest need not be identical”); and (3) can protect communications between “counsel for ...
A lawsuit for defamation has the following basic elements: (1) making a false statement; (2) about a person; (3) to others; and (4) actual damages (if the harm to the person is not apparent). There is a fifth element when the person is a public official or public figure.
Choice of law clause, also known as a governing law clause, that allows the contracting parties to choose the substantive law of New Jersey to apply to the contract.