The first Supreme Court grant of review is on a motion for leave to appeal in State v. Chambers. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk’s office, is “Under the circumstances presented, can the State be compelled to obtain and produce an alleged sexual assault victim’s mental health records for an in camera review by the trial court?” The Law Division, Essex County, required the State to provide the records for in camera review. Now the Supreme Court will consider the matter. read more

Lapsley v. Sparta Tp., ___ N.J. ___ (2022). As discussed here, this Workers’ Compensation Act case was one in which plaintiff, a librarian at the Sparta Public Library, was walking through a parking lot owned by the Township to where her husband, who had come to pick her up, had parked their car. She was hit by a snowplow owned by the Township and driven by a Township employee. She sued for Workers’ Compensation benefits, and the Division of Compensation agreed that she should receive them. The Township appealed, and the Appellate Division reversed. read more

To date, 2022 has not been kind to this blog. Down for a period of time due to malware, and then only partially restored, the blog is now fully ready for the new year. But the New Jersey appellate law world did not stop during that time. Here are some summaries of developments, decisional and otherwise, since January 1: read more

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Today is a court holiday for New Jersey state and federal courts. That affords an opportunity to catch up with this week’s published opinions from the Supreme Court,, the Appellate Division, and the Third Circuit. Here are summaries of those rulings (the Third Circuit also issued some published immigration decisions this week, which are not covered here): read more

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted leave to appeal in State v. Bullock. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk’s office, is “Were the detectives required to advise defendant, who was not charged with any offenses at the time, why he was being questioned before proceeding with the custodial interrogation?” The Law Division in this murder case granted defendant’s motion to suppress statements he made to police, which he argued were taken in violation of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966), and certain physical evidence taken after he signed forms consenting to a search. read more

Jefferson v. Lias, ___ F.4th ___ (3d Cir. 2021). Back in 2019, this post discussed a circumstance where two of the three judges on a Third Circuit panel filed an opinion concurring in the panel’s unanimous opinion, of which those two judges were, of course, also part. Yesterday, a panel of three other Third Circuit judges went that one better in this case, which was brought under the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. 1983, and on other theories. read more

Judge Ambro has announced that he will take senior status, effective upon the confirmation of his successor. He is the third judge to do so during the term of President Biden (the others are Chief Judge Smith and former Chief Judge McKee), which enables the President to nominate a new judge to fill Judge Ambro’s seat. President Biden has not yet nominated anyone to fill the seats of Judges McKee and Smith, so there are three slots to be filled. read more