February 26 was the most recent post on this blog. From then until today, I have had an Appellate Division oral argument, an oral argument on a dispositive motion in the Law Division, and an oral argument in the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Meanwhile, the appellate courts have not been silent. Here is a summary of some of the decisions that have been issued during that window: State v. Shaw, ___ N.J. ___ (2020). This was the Supreme Court’s only decision during this time period. It addressed whether there should be a limit on the number of times that a prosecutor can submit a case to a...

Pisack v. B&C Towing, Inc., ___ N.J. ___ (2020). This matter involved multiple consolidated consumer class actions challenging the fees charged by the defendant towing companies, which towed plaintiffs’ vehicles at the direction of the police without plaintiffs’ consent. As discussed here, after trial level proceedings produced differing results, the Appellate Division issued a published opinion, reported at 455 N.J. Super. 225 (App. Div. 2018), that resolved, largely in plaintiffs’ favor, a number of issues under the Predatory Towing Prevention Act, N.J.S.A. 56:13-7...

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in four more cases. Three of them involve grants of certification. In the fourth appeal, the Court accepted a certified question as posed by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. The certified question case is Bank Leumi USA v. Kloss. The question certified by the Third Circuit and accepted by the Supreme Court is “When a party filed, in lieu of an answer, a motion to dismiss under Rule 4:6-2(e) for failure to state a claim, and the court dismissed with prejudice, is that party subject to claim preclusion when—in a later suit that it...