The Supreme Court announced Directive # 03-21, available here. That Directive supersedes Directive # 18-17. The new Directive “promulgates a revised set of Children in Court (CIC) standards as approved by the Supreme Court.” The standards themselves have been revised in various ways, as described in the Directive. Three appeal-related documents– the Acknowledgement of Appeal Rights Form (CN 11553), the Advisory Notice to Parents and Counsel When Parental Rights are Terminated (CN 10317), and the Appellate Division’s Administrative Protocol for termination of Parental...

Delaney v. Dickey, ___ N.J. ___ (2020). Justice Albin’s opinion for a unanimous Supreme Court in this case today is an important one for attorneys and their clients. The Court held that if an attorney includes in a retainer agreement a provision that legal malpractice claims must proceed in arbitration rather than in court, the attorney “must generally explain to a client the benefits and disadvantages of arbitrating a prospective dispute between the attorney and client. Such an explanation is necessary because, to make an informed decision, the client must have a basic...

Pannucci v. Edgewood Park Senior Housing- Phase 1, LLC, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2020). As Judge Ostrer explained in his opinion for the Appellate Division today, the “settled doctrine of res ipsa loquitur,” which means “the thing speaks for itself,” allows a jury “to infer a defendant’s negligence, enabling a plaintiff to make a prima facie case.” To trigger the doctrine, a plaintiff must show that “first, the accident was one that ‘ordinarily bespeaks negligence,’ that is, someone’s negligence more likely than not...