On Tuesday, April 29, judges on Part F of the Appellate Division will hear oral argument in Newport Associates Development Co. v. Chubb Ins. Co. The appeal arises out of the denial by the Law Division of the motion of defendant AIG Specialty Insurance Company ("ASIC") to compel arbitration of plaintiffs' claim for indemnity in connection with underlying litigation with Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. and Public Service Electric and Gas Company. The Law Division held that ASIC had waived its contractual right to demand arbitration....

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in four new cases. All of them entail grants of certification. There are two civil appeals and two criminal matters....

Rappaport v. Pasternak, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). Justice Patterson's opinion for a unanimous Court today arose out of the arbitration of a dispute among members of limited liability companies. After the arbitrator made his award, the Chancery Division confirmed that award. But the Appellate Division, which viewed the record as showing that the arbitrator had improperly ruled on an issue not presented by the parties, modified the award. On further review, the Supreme Court reversed the Appellate Division and reinstated the Chancery Division's confirmation of the award....

On Thursday, March 13, a panel of Part C of the Appellate Division will hear oral argument in Gallardo v. Ginarte. Plaintiff and defendant were former law partners. Plaintiff alleged that defendant and his law firm had locked plaintiff out of the firm to retaliate for plaintiff having engaged in activity protected under the Law Against Discrimination and the Conscientious Employee Protection Act. Plaintiff claimed that defendants then improperly tried to prevent clients from leaving defendant for plaintiff's new law firm. Defendants countered that plaintiff had improperly pressured defendants' clients to move to plaintiff's new firm....

. Focazio, M.D. v. Arthur St. Realty, LLC, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). As Judge Vinci stated in his opinion for the Appellate Division in this case, "[i]t has long been the rule in New Jersey that a tort claim cannot be assigned prior to judgment." This case, which alleged legal malpractice, centered on agreements that plaintiff entered into with the opposing party in the lawsuit that underlay the malpractice action ("Tsairis") and with his attorneys in that lawsuit....

Tomorrow, February 12, a panel of judges on Part F will hear oral argument in Wang v. COA Hudson 99, LLC. The case involves an arbitration clause in a Subscription and Purchase Agreement for a condominium residence unit. Plaintiffs on this appeal, purchasers of the unit, declined to close because, they asserted, the unit was substantially smaller than had been represented to them. Defendants in this case filed a demand for American Arbitration Association ("AAA") arbitration, contending that the buyers had breached the contract by failing to close and that defendants were entitled to retain the buyers' deposit....

Hopkins v. LVNV Funding, LLC, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). This appeal arose out of a Special Civil Part action by LVNV Funding, LLC ("LVNV") on January 26, 2022 to collect an alleged $746.71 debt originally owed to Credit Bank One, N.A. LVNV alleged that it was the successor in interest and owner of the alleged debt, at the tail end of a long line of successors. Hopkins filed an Answer and a class action counterclaim, alleging that LVNV and the others in its chain of successors were not licensed to conduct business as consumer lenders or sales finance companies pursuant to the New Jersey Consumer Finance Licensing Act ("CFLA"), N.J.S.A. 17:11C-1 to -49....

The weather has been chilly this week, but the Appellate Division has been heating things up. That court issued published opinions today and on the preceding two days. Here are summaries of those decisions....

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in three new appeals. All are from unpublished opinions of the Appellate Division....

With the coming of the new year, this blog went onto a new platform. That fact, along with a Supreme Court oral argument and a Committee on Character hearing last week, has left this blog behind as 2025 begins. Our appellate courts, however, have been active. Here are summaries of their January 2025 published opinions to date:...