WHEN THE U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development told the city in 2005 that it had violated federal relocation law in dealing with Ed and Debbie Munoz, the city told the feds to take a hike.
The Munozes, whose Juniata Park business was in the path of a planned housing development, complained that they'd lost their business, home and savings in part because the city had kept them in the dark for two years about plans to take their property.
And they said the city had failed to apprise them of their legal rights to relocation expenses and business counseling at a time when it would have made a difference.
As the Daily News reported last year, the city told HUD and the Munozes it had followed the law in acquiring the land and owed them nothing.
But the Munozes took the city to court, and a federal jury saw it differently.
After a four-day trial in March, a jury concluded that the city indeed had violated the federal Uniform Relocation Act, and awarded the Munozes $497,230 in damages. The city also must pick up the Munozes' legal fees.
"We all cried. My daughters just sobbed," Debbie Munoz said of the moment she heard the verdict. "It was vindication for us hanging in there through this nightmare."
The Munozes bought a neighborhood grocery and garden center in August 2001 with high hopes for a second career. Debbie was a social worker with an interest in gardening. Ed had run a small business.
They got bank loans for $1 million to buy and improve the grocery, pledging their New Jersey home as collateral.
But soon after they opened the place, they started hearing from angry customers that the city was going to close the market and take the land for a planned housing development.
"People were coming in real hostile, accusing us of selling out to the project," Debbie Munoz said.
So while business deteriorated over the next 2 1/2 years, Munoz tried to get information from every city agency she could get on the phone about plans for the area.
She got nowhere.
"We had to make business decisions, and couldn't get any straight answers," Munoz said. "We couldn't sell without disclosing the possibility it might be taken, but didn't want to invest in something that had no future."
Ed Munoz became seriously ill in 2002 with ulcerative colitis and related complications, which the couple believe were stress-related.
The Munozes finally closed the business and declared bankruptcy in spring 2004, just as the city was moving to acquire the property.
