Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., ___ N.J. ___ (2019). This appeal came to the Supreme Court via questions certified by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in the area of insurance. Some such certified question appeals can be rather dry. In contrast, the opening paragraph of Chief Justice Rabner’s opinion today, for a unanimous Court, whets one’s appetite to read more: “In New Jersey and elsewhere, no one can procure a life insurance policy on a stranger’s life and receive the benefits of the policy. Betting on a human life in that way, with the...

On May 30, 2001, the Supreme Court decided Packard-Bamberger & Co. v. Collier, 167 N.J. 427 (2001). Writing for a unanimous Court, Justice Verniero held that a corporate director who had also acted as counsel to the corporation could be liable for an award of attorneys’ fees in an attorney misconduct action against him by that corporation and a shareholder. The attorney was found to have engaged in intentional misconduct by failing to disclose a third party’s offer to purchase corporate property, and by assisting another director in purchasing stock that the corporation also...

In re Avandia Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, ___ F.3d ___ (3d Cir. 2019). This appeal had an unusual subject: whether certain documents that defendant GlaxoSmithKline (“GSK”) had designated as confidential in the District Court, pursuant to a protective order, but which were filed in connection with summary judgment proceedings, could go into the joint appellate appendix on plaintiffs’ appeal of that summary judgment ruling. GSK sought to keep the documents confidential on appeal. Plaintiffs disagreed, but the District Court largely sided with...