Justice Lawrence H. Ecker
In 2006, the Town of Woodbury and the Village of Woodbury, merged and have since operated as one entity. In 2010, the Village authorized the sending of a home rule message to the state legislature, seeking to abolish the Village, restore the Town to its status prior to the merger, and prohibit the formation of any additional villages. Plaintiff for-profit corporation represented a group of property owners who were Hasidic Orthodox Jews, opposed the home rule message because if the proposed legislation passed, they would not be able to create their own separate village and would be victims of religious persecution and denied equal protection under the law. The court dismissed the complaint finding plaintiff a for-profit corporation was not the proper party to bring the challenge to the home rule message. The court reasoned that plaintiff had no assets and held no property within the affected area, was not a member of the Hasidic Orthodox community, conducted no business within the affected area, and had not stated business purpose to operate for pecuniary gain.
