State v. Smith, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2020). Perhaps fittingly, the final published Appellate Division of 2020, written by Judge Fasciale and issued today, centered on the COVID-19 pandemic. This case involved a trial of murder and other charges against two defendants. That trial began on February 12, 2020. By March 15, when the Supreme Court suspended all jury trials, the State was still presenting its case, having offered 29 witnesses, with three or four more witnesses still to come. After the Supreme Court authorized the resumption of suspended jury trials “consistent with...

Clark v. Nenna, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2020). After plaintiff broke his femur during a physical therapy session, he had surgery that stabilized his bone using screws and washers. The screw heads caused him discomfort, so he had another surgery, performed by defendant, to remove the screws. Defendant did that successfully. But defendant could not remove the washers because they were “embedded in scar tissue that had developed around the hardware.” Defendant decided to leave the washers where they were because removing them would have required a larger incision and would...

Knight v. Vivint Solar Developer, LLC, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2020). In Goffe v. Foulke Mangagement Corp., 238 N.J. 191 (2019), the Supreme Court ruled that threshold issues as to the validity of a contract that contained an arbitration clause were for the arbitrator to resolve. But as Judge Rose noted in her opinion for the Appellate Division in this case, Goffe did not involve a challenge to the arbitration clause itself, but only a claim that the overall agreement was procured by fraud. Here, in contrast, plaintiff in this consumer fraud case contended that she never saw or agreed...