On December 18, 1967, the Supreme Court decided Ellsworth Dobbs, Inc. v. Johnson, 50 N.J. 528 (1967). The Court’s 6-0 opinion, authored by Justice Francis, overturned nearly 100 years of New Jersey jurisprudence about when a broker earns a commission payment from a seller. As Justice Francis stated, in Hinds v. Henry, 36 N.J.L. 328 (Sup. 1873), “the former Supreme Court ruled that when a broker who had been duly authorized by the owner to find a buyer for his property produced a willing and able purchaser who entered into a contract to buy on terms agreeable to the owner, the...

In re Odyssey Contracting Corp., ___ F.3d ___ (3d Cir. 2019). Odyssey Contracting Corp. and L&L Painting Co., Inc., were (respectively) a subcontractor and the prime contractor on a project to repaint a bridge. They got into a payment dispute and sued each other for breach of contract. Odyssey filed for bankruptcy protection, and the legal dispute between these parties became and adversary proceeding in Bankruptcy Court. At the final pre-trial conference, the parties entered into a stipulation. That stipulation provided that if the Bankruptcy Court found that Odyssey was the breaching...

Raji v. Saucedo, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2019). Judge Fisher’s first published opinion of the current Term was another model of concision, consuming less than eight pages. The appeal involved a landlord-tenant situation, in which tenants had not paid rent and the landlord sued for and obtained possession. The parties entered into a so-called “pay and go” judgment, which entitled plaintiff to possession but also fixed defendants’ financial obligations. Defendants did not make the required payments, so plaintiff filed a new action to enforce the financial terms...