J.H. v. R&M Tagliereni, LLC, ___ N.J. ___ (2019). [There was the potential of a guest post regarding this case, but that did not pan out. That’s the reason for the delay in this post.] This was a tragic case, in which the Supreme Court split 5-2. Plaintiff, a nine-month old infant, was severely burned when he rolled from a bed into an uncovered radiator in his family’s apartment, which was leased from defendants. Plaintiff and his guardian ad litem sued for his injuries, claiming negligence by the landlord in failing to cover the radiator. The Law Division granted summary...

L.R. v. Camden City Public School Dist., ___ N.J. ___ (2019). A relative rarity for our Supreme Court occurred in this case today: the decision of the Appellate Division was affirmed by an equally divided Court. Only six Justices sat because Justice Fernandez-Vina did not participate. As discussed here, the question presented in this appeal was “Are plaintiffs—the mother of a student with a disability and a nonprofit advocacy organization—entitled to obtain from several school districts redacted copies of settlement agreements and records reflecting the provision of special services to...

S.L.W. v. New Jersey Div. of Pensions & Benefits, ___ N.J. ___ (2019). The statute governing the police and firemen’s retirement system (“PFRS”) makes children and widowed spouses of police and firefighters who die after retirement eligible to receive survivor benefits. In this case, an adult woman with disabilities, S.L.W., sought to obtain such benefits after her father, a career law enforcement officer, died in retirement. The issue in Justice Timpone’s decision in this case today was whether S.L.W. qualified as a “child” under the statute. The...