State v. Lodzinski, ___ N.J. ___ (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 The Appellate Division affirmed the conviction in an unpublished opinion.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...

State v. Vega-Larregui, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). The Supreme Court today unanimously ruled that virtual grand juries, a step occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, are constitutional. The Court’s opinion, written by Justice Albin, rejected defense claims that the procedure violated defendants’ constitutional right, under Article I, paragraph 8 of the New Jersey Constitution, to a fair grand jury presentation and denied defendants equal protection of the laws. The opinion also rebuffed the argument that the Court lacked the power to authorize virtual grand juries. The opinion runs 59...

T.L. v. Goldberg, 238 N.J. 218 (2019). The issue in this medical malpractice case was whether plaintiff was entitled to a new trial because defendant, without objection by plaintiff, offered trial testimony that was inconsistent with his discovery responses. That issue produced a 2-1 split in the Appellate Division, whose ruling was reported at 453 N.J. Super. 539 (App. Div. 2018). As discussed here, the majority ordered a new trial, finding that the situation here paralleled that of McKenney v. Jersey City Med. Center, 167 N.J. 359 (2001). Judge Currier dissented. In a unanimous decision by...