State v. Andrews, ___ N.J. ___ (2020). In a 4-3 decision that produced lengthy majority and dissenting opinions, the Supreme Court held that it does not violate a criminal defendant’s Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination or any New Jersey statutory or common law rights to compel the defendant to reveal the passcode to his cellphone. Justice Solomon wrote the majority opinion, in which Chief Justice Rabner and Justices Patterson and Fernandez-Vina joined. The dissent was by Justice LaVecchia, joined by Justices Albin and Timpone. The State had a concededly valid warrant...

The power outage resulting from last week’s storm put a crimp in much of that week. So it is time once again to catch up with our Supreme Court and Appellate Division, each of whom took highly consequential actions during that time. Some of those are summarized below. State v. G.E.P., ___ N.J. ___ (2020). This case (actually, four consolidated cases) addressed whether and to what extent the Court’s decision in State v. J.L.G., 234 N.J. 265 (2018), should apply retroactively. In J.L.G., the Court “reassessed” its prior decision in State v. J.Q., 130 N.J. 554 (1993),...

Seigelstein v. Shrewsbury Motors, Inc., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2020). When class action cases settle with a benefit to the class, class counsel, who normally handle those cases on a wholly contingent basis, are entitled to a fee. That fee is paid either as a percentage of the value of the class recovery or is paid by the defendant on top of the settlement for the class, based on either a percentage or on the “lodestar,” which comprises the number of hours reasonably billed multiplied by a reasonable hourly rate. Often, the fee is agreed upon in settlement negotiations....