Lawyer Sues Fair Lawn Over Alleged Code Violations

A Fair Lawn-based attorney has sued the borough over alleged fire code violations which he claims were improperly issued.

Leonard Miller was issued a notice of violations in April 2009 for alleged problems with the smoke alarm in his River Road law office, storage and electrical issues in the building's basement and because the tenant of an upstairs apartment apparently didn't immediately let an inspector in, according to court documents.

In a complaint filed August 20 of this year, Miller alleged that he was improperly noticed because the notice was first sent to the wrong address, then the inspector gave it to his secretary and told her to request a time extension, which counts as an admission of guilt "under the very strange rules governing appeals to the Construction Board of Appeals."

In a response to the complaint, Fair Lawn borough attorney Ronald Mondello wrote that Miller should have known to follow the fire code because of his status as a lawyer and because he was previously charged with "identical violations" in 2003, for which he paid the borough $9,000 in 2008.

"Plaintiff Miller is violating the same fire code again and claiming ignorance of the law again," Mondello wrote.

Miller also wrote that borough officials were unresponsive when he attempted to communicate with them, violating his right to due process. Officials also issued thousands of dollars in "arbitrary" fines even after the inspector returned and OK'd the alarm, Miller alleged.

"Throughout this entire process, it was impossible to contact [the fire marshal] or have any rational discussion with him," Miller wrote.

Mondello denied most of Miller's claims, calling them "frivolous."

"Plaintiff claims that he immediately repaired and reconnected the fire alarm. He did not," Mondello wrote. 

In 2010, the Bergen County Construction Board, also listed as a defendant in the lawsuit, sided with Fair Lawn in the matter, but reduced the fines from $10,000 to $5,000.