The Supreme Court announced today that it has granted review in five more cases. In four of those matters, the Court granted certification. The fifth case will be before the Court as a result of a motion for leave to appeal. Wild v. Carriage Funeral Holdings, Inc. was the subject of a published Appellate Division decision, reported at 458 N.J. Super. 416 (App. Div. 2019), and discussed here. There, the Appellate Division reversed a dismissal of plaintiff’s Law Against Discrimination case for failure to state a claim. The question presented to the Supreme Court, as phrased by its...

Forty years ago today, the Supreme Court decided State v. Celmer, 80 N.J. 405 (1979), a case that arose out of he conviction of defendant on charges of DWI, speeding, and disregarding a traffic signal. The offenses took place in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, a town that had been founded by members of what was then known as the Methodist Episcopal Church. By state statute, the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, an organization of those Methodists, retained title to all land, streets, and other public places in Ocean Grove, and the Association had police powers normally given only to...

Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., ___ N.J. ___ (2019). This appeal came to the Supreme Court via questions certified by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in the area of insurance. Some such certified question appeals can be rather dry. In contrast, the opening paragraph of Chief Justice Rabner’s opinion today, for a unanimous Court, whets one’s appetite to read more: “In New Jersey and elsewhere, no one can procure a life insurance policy on a stranger’s life and receive the benefits of the policy. Betting on a human life in that way, with the...