Chief Justice Rabner issued Orders, effective yesterday, temporarily assigning two trial level judges to the Appellate Division. Judge James Paganelli, who sits in the Essex County Chancery Division, General Equity, is temporarily assigned to Part E of the Appellate Division, while Judge Lisa Puglisi, who sits in the Ocean County Criminal Division, is temporarily assigned to Part B. Both of those assignments are “in addition to” their respective current assignments, and both temporary assignments run from November 14, 2022 through January 8,...

Chief Justice Rabner issued an Order titled as above yesterday. The full Order is available here. The Order supersedes the Court’s November 18, 2021 Order regarding in-person versus virtual proceedings. The new Order lists “[o]ral arguments before the Supreme Court and the Appellate Division” among those matters that “will generally proceed in person but may be conducted virtually at the discretion of the court. Consent to proceed virtually is not required.” That is essentially how the appellate courts have been operating for some time. So there is effectively...

With the swearing in of newly-confirmed Justices Fasciale and Wainer Apter, there are now six Justices on the Supreme Court. One seat, left vacant when Justice Albin retired this summer, remains for one of the two Appellate Division judges designated by Chief Justice Rabner to fill vacancies. Judge Fisher, the more senior of those two judges, who will reach mandatory retirement age on November 29, has waived that assignment. Accordingly, as announced here, Judge Fisher will be returning to the Appellate Division for his remaining tenure. That leaves Judge Sabatino to continue his temporary...