It's time to catch up with the courts again. Last week, the Supreme Court issued two opinions, while the Appellate Division published one decision. Here are summaries:...
The Supreme Court announced this afternoon that it has granted leave to appeal in two matters. The first of those cases is State v. Miles. The question presented in that appeal, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk's office, is "Was defendant entitled to discovery related to the State's use of facial recognition technology, see State v. Arteaga, 476 N.J. Super. 36 (App. Div. 2023)? Relying on Arteaga, where the Appellate Division had approved such discovery, a two-judge panel of the Appellate Division, in an unpublished order, affirmed the Law Division's similar ruling here....
As discussed here, last September the Supreme Court announced that many oral arguments in the Appellate Division would henceforth be livestreamed, as Supreme Court oral arguments have been since 2005. Briefs in many appeals to be argued orally were to be posted online as well....
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....
Blackridge Realty, Inc. v. The City of Long Branch, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). Pursuant to a written developer's agreement, plaintiff ("Blackridge") was a designated redeveloper under the City of Long Branch's Oceanfront-Broadway Redevelopment Plan. That plan was adopted pursuant to the Local Redevelopment and Housing Law ("LRHL"), N.J.S.A. 40A:12A-1 et seq. Blackridge successfully completed its redevelopment project....
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."...
In re Tom Malinowski Petition for Nomination for General Election, November 8, 2022, for United States House of Representatives New Jersey Congressional District 7, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). This case was an "Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week," as discussed here. Today, in an opinion by Judge Gilson, the Appellate Division held that New Jersey's "anti-fusion" statute, N.J.S.A. 19:13-8, which prohibits a candidate for public office from appearing on a ballot on more than one party line, does not violate the New Jersey Constitution. This ruling affirms a decision by the Secretary of State that rejected, citing that same statute, a request by the Moderate Party to Tom Malinowski as its nominee on the November 2022 general election ballot for the United States House of Representatives, 7th Congressional District because Malinowski was already on the ballot as the nominee of the Democratic Party....
. 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....
The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in five new appeals. All five involve opinions by three-judge panels of the Appellate Division. But that is where the similarities end. One appeal has an expedited briefing schedule, that appeal and two others are before the Court on grants of certification, and the other two are matters in which the Court granted leave to appeal on somewhat similarly phrased questions presented. All but one of the Appellate Division's opinions appealed from were unpublished ones....