Voynick v. Voynick, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). The start of Judge Bergman's opinion in this case today offered a good summary of the issues in this Family Part appeal. "In this appeal, we address the legal standards to be applied by a reviewing court concerning applications for termination or modification of permanent alimony under N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23(j)(3) based on the retirement of an obligor when the judgment or order establishing the alimony obligation was entered prior to the 2014 amendment of N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23."...
C.E. v. Elzabeth Public School District, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). This opinion by Judge Smith today was the second ruling by the Appellate Division in this case. The previous decision was summarized here....
S.V. v. RWJ Barnabas Health, Inc., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). This opinion by Judge Sabatino addressed the denial of a defense summary judgment on a claim of medical malpractice. As the opinion stated at its outset, "plaintiff S.V. alleges that defendants prematurely released her sister ("J.V.") from their care after J.V. was treated for seventeen days on a voluntary admission basis for psychiatric care at defendants' facility. The day after her psychiatric discharge, J.V. crashed her car into a utility pole, injuring plaintiff S.V. who was a passenger in the vehicle."...
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....
D.T. v. Archdocese of Philadelphia, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). This unanimous opinion by Justice Patterson involved whether New Jersey courts had personal juriisdiction over the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, a defendant. Suing both the Diocese and Michael J. McCarthy, a priest assigned by the Archdiocese to a Pennsylvania parish, plaintiff alleged that McCarthy had sexually abused him during an overnight trip to a private home in New Jersey. On leave to appeal, as discussed here, the Appellate Division affirmed a ruling of the Law Division that New Jersey courts lacked personal jurisdiction over the Archdiocese on the facts presented. The Supreme Court granted leave to appeal and affirmed in a unanimous opinion by Justice Patterson, who stated that "an n appellate court reviews de novo a trial court's legal determinations regarding personal jurisdiction, but its review of a trial ‘court's factual findings with respect to jurisdiction' is limited to determining whether those findings are supported by substantial, credible evidence in the record."...
Township of Jackson v. Getzel Bee, LLC, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). This eminent domain opinion by Judge Berdote Byrne involved two consolidated cases. Plaintiff Township sought to acquire two pieces of property owned by defendants, .Block 21601, Lots 84 and 90. When defendants did not respond, plaintiff commenced condemnation proceedings....
In re Estate of Michael D. Jones, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). As summarized here, this case involved whether an ex-spouse's rights as the pay-on-death beneficiary on her deceased ex-husband's U.S. savings bonds were superseded by the parties' divorce. The couple's divorce settlement agreement ("DSA") required, as relevant here, that the ex-husband ("Michael") pay the ex-wife ("Jeanine") $200,000 in installments over time. The DSA did not specifically provide for the disposition of savings bonds....
N.A.R., Inc. v. Eastern Outdoor Furnishings A/K/A JC Partners, LLC, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). This opinion by Judge Sabatino is an example of a party that "won the battle but lost the war." Defendant/third-party plaintiff Eastern Outdoor Furnishings ("Eastern Outdoor") asserted that third-party defendant AMD Direct, Inc. ("AMD") violated the New Jersey Franchise Practices Act, N.J.S.A. 56:10-1 et seq. ("NJFPA"), in terminating Eastern Outdoor's alleged franchise to sell AMD's products. The Law Division granted summary judgment to AMD, holding that there was no written agreement that established a franchise relationship....
Brehme v. Irwin, 259 N.J.505 (2025). One might intuitively think that a plaintiff who accepts full payment of a civil judgment for damages from an auto accident including pain and suffering, disability, impairment, loss of enjoyment of life, and past lost wages, and signs a warrant to satisfy judgment cannot then an appeal a ruling on a motion in limine that barred evidence of future medical expenses....
