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Arteaga, where the Appellate Division had approved such discovery, a two-judge panel of the Appellate Division, in an unpublished order, affirmed the Law Division's similar ruling here....

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....

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."...

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....

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....

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."...