In a development foreshadowed by yesterday’s issuance of the 2019-2020 General Assignment Order, the Supreme Court today published two orders dated July 8 that appoint Judges Ronald Susswein and Catherine Enright to the Appellate Division, effective as of August 1, 2019. Judge Susswein was appointed to the bench in Mercer County by Governor Christie in 2016. He sat in the Family, Criminal, and Civil Divisions there. He is a graduate of American University and Georgetown University Law School. He has had a swift rise to the Appellate Division, not having yet reached the point of...

Holtham v. Lucas, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2019). As Judge Ostrer noted in the first sentence of his opinion in this case today, “[a]ccording to well-settled contract law, a provision that stipulates an unreasonably large amount of damages for a future breach is an unenforceable penalty.” The parties to this matrimonial case entered into a marital settlement agreement that contained a “per diem penalty of $150” for any breach of any duty under that agreement. When plaintiff failed to timely pay off a loan on a car that was to be distributed to his (ex-)wife and...

F.K. v. Integrity House, Inc., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2019). This charitable immunity case centered on how much in charitable contributions (as opposed to, say, government support) defendant received. In order to satisfy the three-pronged test for charitable immunity, the second prong of which (the only one at issue on this appeal) requires that an entity be “organized exclusively for religious, charitable or educational purposes,” it was necessary for defendant, a drug treatment facility, to show a charitable purpose. To do that, the percentage of its funds that came...