New Jersey Department of Children & Families v. E.L., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2018).  Courts often give public entity parties more leeway in complying with rules, court orders, and the like than private parties are given.  Sometimes Court Rules themselves give preference to public agencies, as is so, for example, of Rule 2:9-6(b), which exempts the State, its political subdivisions, and “any of their respective officers or agencies” fro

Conley v. New Jersey Department of Corrections, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2018).  This was an appeal brought by a pro se prisoner under the Open Public Records Act, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 to -13 (“OPRA”).  He sought certain monthly reports from the Department of Corrections.  He had been able to get those reports in the past.  But this time the Department responded that it had begun using “a new database system in which the above requested mont

Kocanowski v. Bridgewater Tp., 452 N.J. Super. 476 (App. Div. 2017).  Plaintiff was a volunteer firefighter in Bridgewater.  She slipped on ice while responding to a fire and was injured.  She sought temporary disability and medical benefits under workers’ compensation.  The Township opposed that, arguing that because plaintiff was unemployed (having stopped work to help her ill father), she could not get temporary disability.

The case went to trial, and a judge in