Well folks the summons was tried in municipal court on 2/3/09. I met with the prosecutor and told her I was to plead not guilty and presented my evidence of the law in NJ. It was exactly as I stated, I was on private property and the officer could not issue the ticket.

However, the property owner could have signed something called a Title 39 which gives the municipal police the authority to enforce any violations as they see fit. In my case the business did not sign the form yet because of a change in management and my summons was dismissed.

Interesting point, I wonder how many just pay parking lot tickets without looking into the law. Looks like the towns are minting their own money.