The Supreme Court announced that is has granted certification in three more cases. Two of them are criminal appeals. The third is an insurance case in which, due to a dissent in the Appellate Division, an appeal as of right was also filed and accepted by the Court. The insurance case is Katchen v. Government Employees Insurance Co. The question presented there, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk’s office, is “Among other issues in this dispute regarding uninsured (UM) and underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage, may an insurer exclude UIM coverage for an accident involving a...

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...