Last week, the Appellate Division issued four published opinions on a single day, as discussed here. Today, the court released three published decisions. Here are summaries of those opinions: New Jersey Div. of Child Protection & Permanency v. B.H., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2019). This was an abuse and neglect appeal under Title 9. B.H. was the boyfriend of H.S. He was accused of abusing or neglecting H.S.’s daughter, M.S. Title 9 defines “abused or neglected child” as one who is impaired, or in danger of impairment, due to the failure of his or her “parent...

S.L.W. v. New Jersey Div. of Pensions & Benefits, ___ N.J. ___ (2019). The statute governing the police and firemen’s retirement system (“PFRS”) makes children and widowed spouses of police and firefighters who die after retirement eligible to receive survivor benefits. In this case, an adult woman with disabilities, S.L.W., sought to obtain such benefits after her father, a career law enforcement officer, died in retirement. The issue in Justice Timpone’s decision in this case today was whether S.L.W. qualified as a “child” under the statute. The...

On most days, the Appellate Division issues a significant number of opinions. But on many of those days, there are no published opinions among them, or only one or two such opinions. Yesterday, however, the Appellate Division issued four published opinions, more than on any other day in recent memory. Here are summaries of those decisions: Branch v. Cream-O-Land Dairy, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2019). In this class action case under the Wage and Hour Law, N.J.S.A. 34:11-56a to -56a38, the Appellate Division reversed a summary judgment that the Law Division had granted to the defendant...