N.J. Judge Tables Motion to Dismiss Verizon Suit Until Motion to Intervene Is Decided

U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp for New Jersey in Trenton handed Verizon a small victory Thursday when he administratively terminated the motion of seven Belmar, New Jersey, residents to dismiss Verizon’s complaint to force Monmouth County’s approval of an application to install nine small wireless facilities in the public rights of way, said his text order (docket 3:23-cv-18091). Verizon had requested a stay of the residents’ motion to dismiss until their motion to intervene is decided because the court hasn’t yet determined whether the putative intervenors are parties to Verizon’s action against the county. Without intervenor status, said Verizon, the residents lack standing to file a motion to dismiss. The residents had argued that there was no basis for not considering the motions together because the arguments in both were “necessarily intertwined” (see 2311020040). The residents’ motion to dismiss will be reinstated, “if appropriate,” following the court's decision on the intervention motion, said Shipp’s order. He cited the court’s “inherent power to control the matters on its docket.”