Kean Scion Seeks To Intervene In Union Property Ownership Suit -- While Reconsideration Motions Are Pending

John Kean Jr. (depicted at top, right), a scion of the Kean family, has filed a motion to intervene in the recently decided legacy Schering-Plough Union facility property ownership suit.

The trial court judge issued an opinion last month granting the Russo entities the right to develop the property, and close their pending purchase transaction from Merck (as successor to legacy Schering Plough, here). Last week, the Kean University interests filed a motion for reconsideration, under explicit instructions from the University's President, Dawood Farahi (depicted to the left of Mr. Kean, above).

Now President Farahi has enlisted the aid of the Kean family member who -- it is claimed, at least -- properly exercised the nearly century old right of first refusal, to re-acquire the parcel, under the provisions of (again, putatively) a 1925 trust agreement and last will of the current Mr. Kean's grandfather. So, perhaps as early as tomorrow, Mr. Kean the younger could be heard, on his motion to intervene. Here is the Union News Daily's report, of this morning -- on these latest maneuvers:

. . . .Less than two weeks after Kean University filed a motion for reconsideration with the court to overturn a ruling saying they had no legal claim to the 50-acre Merck property, John Kean filed a motion with the court to be a part of the university’s fight to reclaim the land.

Kean, a surviving heir of the original owners of the property that includes Merck and other land fronting Morris Avenue, filed the lawsuit late last week with the expectation his plea would be heard as early as tomorrow before the same judge that ruled the university had no claim on the property. . . .

The motion to intervene is a legal move or application to the court that permits a person with an interest, or claim of interest, to become a part of a lawsuit that could “impede or affect that interest.”

While complex, the move by John Kean is significant because he is seeking to actually become a defendant in the motion for reconsideration the Kean Board of Trustees filed two weeks ago. This motion requested that Superior Court Judge Katherine Dupuis reconsider her ruling of January 5, 2015. . . .

Of course, Union's mayor has blasted this latest gambit, as a potential taking of much needed tax funds from the public coffers here. We will keep you informed.