Brunt v. Board of Trustees, Police & Firemen’s Retirement System, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2018).  In general, except as specified by statute, court rule, or a contract between parties, New Jersey follows the “American Rule,” under which litigants must bear their own fees and costs.  This decision today by Judge Rose, in a case that was argued before her and Judge Ostrer, and then re-argued before those two judges and Jud

Giarusso v. Giarusso, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2018).  This opinion by Judge Geiger today involved an application for attorneys’ fees in a matrimonial matter by a well-known North Jersey firm.  The firm had represented the plaintiff wife in connection with post-judgment proceedings.  The firm rendered services to collect alimony and child support arrears from the defendant husband, as well as equitable distribution owed to the wife.  The wife did not pay any amounts to the f

Empower our Neighborhoods v. Guadagno, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2018).  This was an election case under the federal and New Jersey civil rights acts, both of which provide attorneys’ fee-shifting in favor of a prevailing plaintiff.  At the trial level, Judge Mary Jacobson observed that the lawsuit brought by plaintiff, an advocacy group, had “changed the landscape of election law in New Jersey, as all 5.88 million registered voters in New Jersey now ha[d