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A New Jersey appeals court on Tuesday reinstated criminal charges against a solar energy development company and its director accused of violating an administrative consent order meant to assist in building a solar farm on the site of an old landfill.

In a published ruling, State v. Bernarndi, the three-judge Appellate Division panel said three of the six counts against the company, Strategic Environmental Partners, and its director and managing member, Richard Bernardi Sr., were wrongly dismissed based on the mistaken reasoning that an administrative consent order didn't amount to a government contract.

The matter began in 2006, when Strategic Environmental Partners began discussing with the state Department of Environmental Protection about a plan to install solar panels on a Roxbury property it bought in 2011 from a company called Sussex and Warren Holding Corp.

According to the court, the property contained a landfill, the Fenimore Landfill, that had been closed for 30 years. The entire site was contaminated and in need of remediation. During the negotiations, the DEP had expressed doubts about the company's ability to finance the project, especially since the company was unable to obtain a performance bond, the decision said.

Instead, Strategic Environmental Partners proposed using tipping fees at the site, to be paid by a developer, plus expected revenues from its solar panel project, to pay $2.3 million into an escrow account. The DEP agreed, and the agency and the company entered into an administrative consent order.

According to the decision, Strategic Environmental Partners ultimately paid only $250 into the escrow account. It disclosed that it owed Sussex-Warren $950,000 on a mortgage lien. Additionally, the DEP learned that $1.5 million had been paid to Bernardi and his family in 2013 and 2014, the court noted.

The matter was referred to a state grand jury, which returned a six-count indictment. There were five charges against both Strategic Environmental Partners and Bernardi: second-degree false representations for a government contract; second-degree theft by deception, in connection with their dealings with the DEP; another second-degree theft by deception charge, for their dealings with Sussex-Warren; first-degree financial facility of criminal activity; and second-degree theft of services. The sixth count was against Bernardi only—a second-degree charge of misconduct by a corporate officer.

The first four counts of the indictment were dismissed in Morris County Superior Court because, the judge said, an administrative consent order didn't amount to a contract between a private company and a government agency, and there was no evidence to indicate that Strategic Environmental Partners had failed to live up to any contractual agreement to provide goods or services.

But the Appellate Division reinstated three counts of the indictment—second-degree false representation for a government contract, the theft-by-deception charge related to the DEP, and the first-degree financial facilitation of criminal activity charge—ruling that an administrative consent order carries the weight of a government contract.

“A contract has long been interpreted as 'an agreement between two or more parties creating obligations that are enforceable or otherwise recognizable at law' and a 'writing that sets forth such an agreement,'” wrote Appellate Division Judge Francis Vernoia for the appeals court, quoting Black's Law Dictionary. Judges Carmen Messano and Amy O'Connor joined in the ruling.

“The ACO is an agreement between defendants and the NJDEP which, by its express terms, may be enforced by the parties,” Vernoia said.

“The ACO is no different than a consent order in that it incorporates the contractual agreement of the parties and also constitutes an order … requiring compliance with its terms,” Vernoia said.

The panel agreed, however, that count four was rightly dismissed because there was no evidence that the company was attempting to defraud Sussex-Warren in its mortgage, which the court said was more akin to a lien on the property.

The Attorney General's Office, which represented the DEP, did not respond to a request for  comment.

John Azzarello of Whipple Azzarello in Morristown represented both Strategic Environmental Partners and Bernardi. He could not be reached.