The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in four new matters. Two of the cases are civil appeals and two are criminal matters. In East Bay Drywall, LLC v. Department of Labor and Workforce Development, the question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk’s office, is “For purposes of liability for contributions to the state unemployment and temporary disability compensation fund, are the company’s service providers employees or independent contractors under the ABC Test, N.J.S.A. 43:21-19(i)(6)(A) to (C)?” In an opinion reported at 467 N.J....

The Supreme Court announced its first group of new cases for this Term. Of the three cases, each came to the Court by a different route. A-1-21, State v. Ramirez, is before the Court on leave to appeal. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk’s office, is “Is defense counsel entitled to the victim’s home address as part of discovery in this criminal prosecution?” The Law Division adopted a position that allowed defense counsel and his investigator(s) access to the victim’s address, but a three-judge panel of the Appellate Division, on leave to...

State v. Lodzinski, 246 N.J. 331 (2021). As discussed here, this was a highly publicized case, in which a jury found defendant was guilty of the first-degree murder of her five-year old son. The Appellate Division affirmed the conviction in an unpublished opinion. The Supreme Court granted review, and today the Court split 3-3 (Chief Justice Rabner did not participate). In a concurring opinion by Justice Patterson, she and Justices Fernandez-Vina and Solomon voted to affirm the conviction. Dissenting, Justices Albin, the author of the dissent, LaVecchia, and Pierre-Louis. The effect of that...