JERSEY CITY — Jersey City Councilman Nidia Lopez received a favorable ruling recently when state Superior Court Judge Maurice Gallipoli ruled that Lopez’s residency issues were not sufficient to cause her to have to give up her new seat on the Jersey City council.
A lawsuit filed against her to vacate her seat claimed that Lopez’s primary residence is in Florida, where she does own a residence. The suit said she had not paid New Jersey income taxes for several years while filing federal taxes in Florida.
But in the Dec. 4 ruling, Gallipoli stated, “none of these actions, whatever the motvation for them, is excused or condoned by the decision.” His decision was simply that her actions were not “resident specific” and not enough to “tip the scale” in favor of Norrice Raymaker, the third place opponent in the May Ward C council race, who picked up the lawsuit after the original plaintiff, Jimmy King, pleaded guilty to taking bribes from government informant Solomon Dwek.
Lopez said after hearing about the decision that she was “very happy” and that she also apologizes to her constituents for the trouble. – RK