NJ Appellate Law Blog

Two More Criminal Cases for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it will review two more cases. Both are criminal appeals in which the Court granted certification. In State v. McNeil-Thomas, the question presented, as phrased...

High-Low Agreement Did Not Permit Plaintiff to Recover Attorneys' Fees and Expenses Above the "High" Figure

Serico v. Rothberg, 234 N.J. 168 (2018). As discussed here, last year, the Appellate Division ruled in this medical malpractice case that a "high-low agreement" is a contract, and that...

Motor Vehicle Commission Wrongly Sanctioned Car Dealers Without Holding Hearings

Allstars Auto Group, Inc. v. New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, 234 N.J. 150 (2018). The New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission ("NJMVC") imposed fines and suspensions on eight car dealers for...

Class of Kia Vehicles Owners Was Entitled to Damages Based on Aggregate Figures Rather Than Individual Damage Assessments

Little v. Kia Motors America, Inc., 455 N.J. Super. 411 (App. Div. 2018). Class actions notoriously take a long time. But the case in which Judge Koblitz issued a decision...

Res Ipsa Loquitur and Elevator Doors

McDaid v. Aztec West Condominium Association, 234 N.J. 130 (2018). As Jutice Albin stated in the first two sentences of today's opinion for a unanimous Supreme Court, "Res ipsa loquitur...

As the End of the Term Nears, The Supreme Court Takes Two More Cases

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in two more cases. In Zimmerman v. Sussex County Educational Services Commission, the question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court...

No "Dead End" for New Jersey Civil Rights Act Plaintiff, So Her NJCRA Claim Fails

Harz v. Borough of Spring Lake, 234 N.J. 317 (2018). The New Jersey Civil Rights Act, N.J.S.A. 10:6-1 to -2 ("NJCRA") is, in general, the New Jersey analog to the...

The Supreme Court Will Take Up a DNA Case

The Supreme Court has added one more case to its docket. That case is State v. Camey, in which the Court granted leave to appeal. The question presented, as phrased...

Mark Neary, Clerk of the Supreme Court, Will Retire

Mark Neary, who has served as Clerk of the Supreme Court for over nine years, will retire in November of this year. A search is on for his replacement. A...

Rice Letters, and Making Meeting Minutes of Public Bodies "Promptly Available," Under the Open Public Meetings Act

Kean Federation of Teachers v. Morell, 233 N.J. 566 (2018). Yesterday's opinion by Justice LaVecchia reversed in part and affirmed as modified a decision of the Appellate Division that was...

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Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week: Is the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals a Public Agency That is Subject to the Open Public Records Act?

On Thursday, December 4, judges on Part C of the Appellate Division will hear oral argument in Wronko v. Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ("MCSPCA"). The case arises under the Open Public Records Act, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq. ("OPRA"), and the common law right of access....

Before Thanksgiving ….

The week of Thanksgiving and the week preceding it saw one Supreme Court opinion and four published rulings from the Appellate Division. Catching up, here are summaries....

A Colossal Inter-Municipality Contract Dispute for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in Jersey City Municipal Utilities Auth. v. Town of Dover. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk's office, is "Do the 1971 settlement agreement and the 1984 amendment to that settlement agreement constitute an unlawful perpetual municipal contract without a finite endpoint, are they void as against public policy and the Clean Water Act, and are they terminated if the capacity of the Rockaway Valley Regional Sewerage Authority treatment plant expands beyond twelve million gallons per day?"...

Are Insurance Brokers Exempt From Liability Under the "Learned Professionals" Exception to the Consumer Fraud Act? The Supreme Court Will Decide

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted leave to appeal in Lowe v. Audet. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk's office, is "Are insurance brokers exempt from liability under the ‘learned professionals' exception to the Consumer Fraud Act?" The Law Division granted a defense motion to dismiss. A two-judge Appellate Division panel affirmed in an unpublished per curiam opinion....