96 South Broadway
On December 18, 2025, the NYS Court of Appeals issued a decision affirming the lower court determinations that a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) entered into by a 2017 Town Board violated a legal doctrine known as the term limits rule which prohibits a town board from binding a successor town board in matters of governance.
In 2017, the Fishkill Town Board entered into an MOU that required the Town, including future town boards, to review a proposed zoning amendment from a developer and also limited the Town’s discretion in reviewing the proposed amendment, requiring the Town’s decision to be based on “empirical data” and “other objective factual bases.” When a new Town Board took office in 2020, under legal guidance from Partner Brian D. Nugent, the board terminated review of the developer’s proposed zoning amendment. The developer filed suit in the Dutchess County Supreme Court, claiming a breach of contract and seeking 1.2 million dollars in damages against the Town. The Town moved to dismiss, arguing that the MOU violated the term limits and constituted impermissible contract zoning. The Dutchess Supreme Court agreed with the Town’s position and dismissed the developer’s Complaint.
The developer appealed to the Appellate Division, Second Department and Partner Brian D. Nugent argued on behalf of the Town. The Appellate Divisions unanimously upheld the lower court decision finding that the MOU violated the term limits and rule and constituted impermissible contract zoning. The developer then appealed to New York State’s highest court, the Court of Appeals in Albany. The parties appeared for oral argument at the Court of Appeals on November 20, 2025 and Partner Brian D. Nugent argued on behalf of the Town of Fishkill.
On December 18, 2025, the Court of Appeals issued its decision, upholding the lower court decisions and finding that the MOU violated the term limits rule by stripping future Fishkill Town Boards of their governmental discretion to consider (or not consider) zoning the zoning amendment.
This case was Brian D. Nugent’s second appearance at the NYS Court of Appeals since 2023, where he successfully argued on behalf of the Town of Monroe and achieved a unanimous reversal of a lower court decision that had improperly determined that exempt class civil service employees could have job protection through a collective bargaining agreement. In that case, the Court of Appeals reversed the Appellate Division decision and determined that exempt class employees cannot lawfully obtain job protection through a collective bargaining agreement since such employees are at-will employees that do not have to meet any eligibility requirements or pass any examinations to be appointed to their positions.
Decision and Order: https://fnmlawfirm.com/wp-content/uploads/20251218-COA-Decision.pdf