A New Jersey tax judge has imposed a $45,000 sanction on a litigant who filed a lawsuit seeking an increase in a tax assessor's own property tax assessment.

Judge Vito Bianco of the New Jersey Tax Court ultimately found Jesse Wolosky brought the case to extract vengeance against tax assessor Penny Holenstein for not giving him the outcome he wanted in a settlement of his own property tax appeal. Wolosky's lawsuit claimed Holstein's home was under-assessed.

Bianco imposed a $45,589 sanction on Wolosky, which covers the cost of Holenstein's legal fees and expenses.

The case balanced the extent to which an individual may exercise his right under law to challenge another property owner's assessment against the obligation of a public official "to perform her duties without fear, intimidation or coercion," Bianco said.

Wolosky brought the suit "under the guise of public activism," but he was acting "for his own selfish and vengeful interests," Bianco said.

Wolosky's lawyer, Walter Luers, said an appeal is planned. Court rules require a frivolous litigation sanctions motion to be filed within 20 days of the entry of final judgment, but in the present case the motion for sanctions was filed 679 days after final judgment, Luers said.

"It looks like they're throwing the book at Mr. Wolosky but the defendants in this case totally failed to follow the rules," Luers said.

Wolosky appealed the assessment of his property in Green Township to the county Board of Taxation in 2013. Holenstein, in her capacity as assessor to Green Township, negotiated a settlement lowering Wolosky's assessment to $8,100. Holenstein also holds part-time posts as assessor in two other townships, Byram and Stillwater.

In March 2015, Wolosky sought to lower the assessment on his property to $1,000, and Holenstein countered with $1,500. Wolosky rejected that offer and asked for $700, which Holenstein refused.

In May 2015, Wolosky filed a series of public record requests with Green Township and Byram Township concerning Holenstein, including her resume, employment application, tax assessor certificate and any continuing education courses she took.

In June 2015, the County Board of Taxation rejected Wolosky's appeal of his assessment. At that hearing, Wolosky turned to the municipal attorney for Green Township, Richard Stein, and threatened to file a similar tax appeal on his home and another appeal on Holenstein's. Holenstein's husband, Michael, later testified he heard Wolosky tell a board of taxation employee he intended to file tax appeals on Stein and Holenstein to "cause them agita."

In July 2015, Wolosky went to the Byram Township municipal building and questioned deputy clerk Cindy Church about Holenstein's work hours. Told that Holenstein works in Byram on Tuesdays, Wolosky told Church "she made things difficult for me in Green Township, and so now I'm going to make things difficult for her."

Wolosky filed another appeal of the assessment on Holenstein's residence in Fredon Township in March 2016. He also filed an open record request with Stillwater Township, seeking Holenstein's payroll information. In May 2016, the county board dismissed Wolosky's application, citing a perceived conflict because of Holenstein's work as an assessor.

Bianco, citing Wolosky's statements and the timing of his open record requests, found Wolosky cast "serious doubt about the credibility of his testimony with regard to his motivations." Bianco also said Wolosky, who was pro se when he filed both appeals of Holenstein's assessment,  acted in bad faith at all times.

Because Wolosky's litigation was brought against Holenstein due to her official duties for Green Township, and an ordinance calls for the township to provide for her defense, the township is eligible for reimbursement as a public entity under the frivolous lawsuit statute, Bianco said.

Holenstein's attorney, Tara St. Angelo of Gebhardt & Kiefer in Annandale, billed 268.8 hours at $175 per hour. Costs and paralegal fees amounted to another $4,368, for a total of $52,983. Bianco deducted $6,151 from the total request to reflect that Wolosky successfully defended against Holenstein's motion for dismissal in 2016.

Since $12,302 was billed for preparation of that motion as well as a motion for limited discovery, upon which Holenstein prevailed, the judge deducted half the cost for preparing the motion. The judge also deducted $1,242 in fees for responding to and redacting confidential information from open record requests by Wolosky, because he had the right to make those requests, the judge said.

St. Angelo declined to comment. The lawyer for Fredon Township, William Hinkes of Hollander, Strelzik, Pasculli, Hinkes, Wojcik, Gacquin, Vandenberg & Hontz in Newton, did not return a call.