As of December 4, as stated here, New Jersey’s own Judge Chagares became Chief Judge of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. That occurred as a result of the fact that his predecessor, Chief Judge Smith, reached age 70, the age at which one must step down from the position of Chief Judge. Judge Smith had led the court since 2016. read more

Due to my fifteen-year service on the Supreme Court of New Jersey Committee on Character, the date of any Supreme Court decision that implicates the Committee on Character is a significant date. On this date in 2000, the Supreme Court decided In re Jackman, 165 N.J. 580 (2000). The issues in that case, as summarized by Justice LaVecchia in her unanimous opinion for the Court, were “whether Steven B. Jackman, an applicant for admission to the bar of this State, engaged in the unauthorized practice of law while he was employed as an associate attorney in a New Jersey law firm prior to sitting for the New Jersey bar examination and whether that unauthorized practice renders him unfit to be admitted to practice.” read more

Township of Montclair Committee of Petitioners v. Township of Montclair, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). The Township of Montclair adopted a rent control ordinance. Plaintiffs sought to gather signatures for a referendum to block that ordinance. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, plaintiffs could not go door-to-door to collect physical signatures. Instead, they established a website where persons could sign the referendum petition electronically. read more

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In re Verified Petition of Retail Energy Supply Ass’n, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). This appeal was from the inaction (not any action) by the Board of Public Utilities (“BPU”). Appellant Retail Energy Supply Association filed a petition in February 2019 asking the BPU to withdraw a January 2019 letter that barred appellant’s members from passing on to certain of their customers price increases that allegedly were caused by a statutory cost change required by operation of law. read more

Today, Chief Justice Rabner issued an order regarding procedures for both the period while the COVID-19 epidemic persists and thereafter. The order runs over six pages and addresses numerous types of court proceedings. read more

Our Supreme Court denies far more petitions for certification than it grants. Many people think that a denial of certification means that the Court has ruled in favor of the opponent of certification. In fact, that is not so. read more

On this date in 1970, the Supreme Court decided Paterson Tavern & Grill Owners Ass’n v. Hawthorne, 57 N.J. 180 (1970). The issue in the case was whether an ordinance of the Borough of Hawthorne that forbade licensed taverns in the Borough from employing women as bartenders (with exceptions for women licensees who tended their own bars, or wives of male licensees) was valid. The ordinance had been adopted pursuant to the Borough’s police powers. The Appellate Division upheld that aspect of the ordinance at issue, which in that court and at the trial level also prohibited certain other employments. Only the issue of women as bartenders was presented to the Supreme Court. read more