Mayor, Borough Council No Longer Named in Gambling Treatment Facility Suit

Mayor Nelson Vaughan and the Chatham Borough Council are no longer named in a lawsuit filed against various borough boards by Tricare Treatment Services, a gambling addiction treatment company.

The complaint was filed in state Superior Court in Morristown May 13 against the borough's Zoning Board of Adjustment and Planning Board. It also named Mayor Nelson Vaughan and the Borough Council, and alleged all of those parties acted unlawfully in a variety of ways.

But the court ruled last month that there are no grounds for the mayor and the Borough Council to be named in the suit.

The suit relates to an episode that took place earlier this year, during which Tricare, which is owned by Michael Osborne, attempted to establish a gambling addiction treatment center at the Parrot Mill Inn.

Borough Zoning Officer Vince DeNave had previously decided that the gambling addiction facility represented a continued use of the Parrot Mill Inn since it would be used for lodging, and in February, the Planning Board approved Tricare's application to change some of the bedrooms into offices.

But residents reacted angrily and eventually appealed DeNave's decision to the Zoning Board of Adjustment, claiming the property did not represent a continued use. The Zoning Board upheld the appeal at its March 24 meeting, saying the gambling addiction facility was not similar enough to the bed and breakfast to allow it to exist inside the building without a variance.

In the suit, Tricare alleges the Planning Board and the Board of Adjustment "violated principals [sic] of fundamental fairness."

"The Board of Adjustment's action should be reversed," the complaint reads. "The action of the Board of Adjustment was arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable."

It also alleges the parties violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Act, and demands judgment for damages and attorney's fees.

The suit had also named Vaughan and the Borough Council. But the court complied with a motion Borough Attorney Joseph Bell made that requested those parties be removed from the suit.

Osborne's attorney, Lawrence Litwin of Morristown, had argued that the Borough Council had been planning to adopt an ordinance after the February Planning Board meeting that would have prevented Tricare from setting up shop in the Parrot Mill Inn. Such a move, according to Litwin, would have been grounds enough for a lawsuit against the body.

But the court sided with Bell's motion.

"There is no indication that an ordinance has been adopted and that the mayor and council had anything to do with such a proposed ordinance," a court filing reads.

Court documents indicate Vaughan and the Borough Council could be renamed in the case if new facts arise.

The Planning Board and Zoning Board of Adjustment are still named in the suit.