Apr 27

Digging Out

Posted by on Apr 27, 2018 in Constitutional law, Consumer protection, Criminal law, Judges, Statutory interpretation, Summary judgment, Supreme Court of New Jersey, Third Circuit Court of Appeals | 0 comments

This past Monday, I argued two appeals in the Supreme Court of New Jersey.  They were the Accutane matters discussed here and here.  In the period leading up to those arguments, and the days following, the courts continued to issue opinions.  Here are brief summaries of some of the most significant of those rulings:

Apr 5

46 Years Ago Today, the Supreme Court Reconsidered and Amended Its Ruling

Posted by on Apr 5, 2018 in Constitutional law, Notable opinion writing, Statutory interpretation, Supreme Court of New Jersey | 0 comments

Unsuccessful litigants sometimes try to persuade appellate courts to reconsider and amend or reverse their decisions.  Rarely does that succeed.  On this day in 1972, however, the Supreme Court, acting on new information provided not by a losing party, but by intervenors who joined the case after the Court’s initial decision, amended its original judgment in favor of the intervenors.

The case was Affiliated Distillers Brands Corp. v. Sills, 60 N.J. 342 (1972).   There, in a prior opinion reported at 56 N.J. 251 (1969), the Court had ruled that a “grandfather c

Apr 2

A Defective Products Class Action Fails for a Unique Reason

Posted by on Apr 2, 2018 in Class actions, Constitutional law, Consumer protection, Judges, Third Circuit Court of Appeals | 0 comments

Gonzalez v. Owens Corning, ___ F.3d ___ (3d Cir. 2018).  This putative class action case, brought by consumers in four states, asserted that “Oakridge” roof shingles sold by defendants (“Owens Corning”) were defective, and that defendants misrepresented the shingles’ useful life.  The District Court denied plaintiffs’ motion for class certification.  Plaintiffs sought interlocutory review of that ruling under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(f),