Kravitz v. Murphy, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021); Johnson v. McClellan, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). The Kravitz case, in which Judge Hoffman authored the panel’s opinion, involves another Executive Order issued by Governor Murphy as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This one was Executive Order No. 128, which authorized residential tenants to use their security deposits to pay rent. Individuals and businesses that own or manage leased residential premises challenged the Executive Order on several grounds. Those grounds included the argument that the Executive Order...

M.F. v. JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing f/k/a Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality), _2021 N.J. Super. LEXIS ______ (App. Div. 2021). [Disclosure: I argued this appeal for the successful plaintiffs]. In June 2015, after several years of litigation and a three-week trial, a jury found that defendants had violated the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, N.J.S.A. 56:8-1 et seq. (“CFA”). As the Appellate Division’s per curiam opinion today summarized, “plaintiffs [had] filed suit, alleging that defendants had engaged in deceptive and fraudulent...

Butt v. United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America, ___ F.3d ___ (3d Cir. 2021). This opinion by Judge Hardiman involved an attorneys’ fee dispute. In the underlying consolidated discrimination cases, plaintiffs’ original attorney, Ryan Paddick, had a 40% contingency fee agreement with his clients. After winning in the Third Circuit a reversal of a prior summary judgment for the defense and, on remand, taking 24 depositions, briefing nine motions, and undertaking other activities, found himself unable to advance the necessary funds for an expert. With his consent,...