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...

In re Corbo, ___ N.J. ___ (2019). Justice Fernandez-Vina’s opinion for a 6-0 Supreme Court today (Justice Timpone did not participate) is unusual in that it addresses not the substantive issues involved, but the remedy imposed. The Civil Service Commission had issued a final agency decision removing Officer Corey Corbo from the Union City Police Department because he had ingested cocaine. Corbo appealed, and the Appellate Division reversed on the ground that there was “no competent evidence” to support removing Officer Corbo. But the panel did not remand the matter to allow...

In the last several weeks, this blog has largely focused on Supreme Court decisions and grants of review. That was not meant to slight the Appellate Division, whose judges have made some important rulings as well. Here are summaries of some of the most significant published rulings of the Appellate Division during that period: Sosa v. Massachusetts Bay Ins. Co., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2019). In an opinion by Judge Ostrer that focused on the language and effect of a water damage exclusion in the subject homeowner’s insurance policy, the Appellate Division reversed a summary...