Rowe v. Bell & Gossett Co., ___ N.J. ___ (2019). This first Supreme Court opinion of the new Term, written by Justice Patterson for a unanimous Court, addresses the hearsay exception contained in Evidence Rule 803(c)(25). Plaintiff, who died during the pendency of appeals in the case, sued a number of defendants after contracting mesothelioma. All but one defendant, “Universal,” settled before trial. Plaintiff won a jury verdict as to Universal. But Universal offered into evidence interrogatory answers and deposition testimony of the settling defendants in support of a...

Even as the Appellate Division wound down the number of its published opinions in the second half of August, the Third Circuit seemed to rev up its publication of opinions. From August 14 through August 29, the court published thirteen opinions. Here are summaries of some of them (for full coverage of all of the court’s activities, check out Matthew Stiegler’s CA3blog): Golden v. New Jersey Institute of Technology, ___ F.3d ___ (3d Cir. 2019). This opinion by Chief Judge Smith involved an attorneys’ fee issue under New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act, N.J.S.A....

Yesterday, in an Order authored by Judge Natali, for himself and Judge Messano, the Appellate Division overturned a preliminary injunction against operation of the New Jersey Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act. The Appellate Division’s Order, which was thereafter affirmed by the Supreme Court, is available here. The Appellate Division elaborated on the standard for preliminary injunctive relief that was stated in Crowe v. DeGioia, 90 N.J. 126 (1982). The panel applied the abuse of discretion standard and concluded that the Law Division had abused its discretion in...