Grillo v. State of New Jersey, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). In 2011, legislation (“Chapter 78”) changed the way that State Health Benefits Plan (“SHBP”) benefits were provided to public employees participating in that program. Chapter 78 required that employees contribute to the cost of that plan based on their “base salary.” Plaintiffs, who are Trenton police officers who were injured at work and were receiving temporary disability benefits through workers’ compensation, brought this case seeking a declaratory judgment that their...

Bascom Corporation v. Paterson Coalition for Housing, Inc., 2021 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 1846 (App. Div. Aug. 24, 2021). Periodically, our appellate courts offer lessons in “what not to do” or “how not to behave.” The Appellate Division did just that in this case. The decision itself, a per curiam ruling by a panel consisting of Judges Fuentes and Firko, resulted from a foreclosure action. A final judgment of foreclosure was entered against defendant Paterson Coalition for Housing, Inc. (“PCH”). More than nine months after the entry of that judgment, and...

After this post about the Supreme Court’s busy August, that Court decided two more cases. Both were criminal appeals. Here are summaries: State v. Hannah, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). This was a case involving murder and other charges. Defendant was found guilty. After a lengthy procedural history, the Supreme Court voted 4-3 to grant post-conviction relief and vacate the conviction. The grounds were that defendant’s counsel rendered constitutionally deficient representation, and that, but for the deficient representation, there was a reasonable probability of a different outcome at...