Diana v. LVNV Funding, LLC, ___ N.J. ___ (2026). [Disclosure: I represented amici curiae Consumers League of New Jersey and National Association of Consumer Attorneys in this appeal]. In a unanimous opinion by Justice Hoffman, the Supreme Court held that plaintiff, suing on behalf of a putative class, could not assert an implied private right of action to void a loan contract, pursuant to the New Jersey Consumer Finance Licensing Act, CFLA, N.J.S.A. 17:11C-1 to -49 ("CFLA"), against institutional debt-buyer defendants that allegedly purchased his credit card debt without a requisite license....
Reed v. Muoio, ___ N.J. ___ (2026). As Justice Noriega said in his unanimous opinion in this appeal, the case centered on a 1995 amendment to the New Jersey Constitution, N.J. Const. art. VIII, § 2, ¶ 5), that "prohibit[ed] any law, rule, or regulation that was determined to be an unfunded mandate." The amendment directed the Legislature to establish the Council on Unfunded Mandates ("the Council") to resolve whether a statute, rule, or regulation was an unfunded mandate. The issue in this case was whether the Council exceeded its powers....
In the time since the most recent post on this blog about published Appellate Division opinions, that court issued published rulings in four cases. Here are summaries:...
In the time since the most recent post on this blog about Supreme Court opinions, the Court issued rulings in three cases. Here are summaries:...
Last Friday was Juneteenth, and courts were closed, making it a short week. During that week, there were no Supreme Court opinions issued, but the Appellate Division published decisions in two matters, one of which encompassed fourteen cases. Here are summaries:...
This week saw two Supreme Court opinions and one published Appellate Division decision. Here are summaries:...
The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in five new appeals. Two of those are from published opinions of the Appellate Division, while the other three bring up unpublished rulings by that court....
Last week saw two published Appellate Division decisions. One was authored by Judge Mawla and the other by Judge D'Almeida....
The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in In the Matter of the Expungement of the Criminal/Juvenile Records of P.L. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk's office, is "Does the Recovery Court expungement statute, N.J.S.A. 2C:35-14(m), allow for the expungement of juvenile adjudications for offenses that would not otherwise be eligible for expungement under N.J.S.A. 2C:52-2 and N.J.S.A. 2C:52-4.1?" In an opinion reported at 482 N.J. Super. 319 (App. Div. 2025), the Appellate Division, applying de novo review, affirmed the ruling of the Law Division that allowed the expungement in these circumstances....
To bring things current, this post summarizes three published Appellate Division opinions that were issued in the recent period. The subject matter of these ruling ranged from construing a Court Rule about reconsideration to applying the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act ("PDVA") to determining whether the Attorney General's office was required to defend and indemnify a Deputy Chief Assistant Prosecutor facing an attorney disciplinary proceeding that arose out of his official duties....
