BV001 REO Blocker, LLC v. 53 West Somerset Properties, LLC, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). Judge Ostrer’s opinion in this case, issued today, may become the new “go-to” source in cases seeking to invoke Rule 4:50-1(f). That Rule permits relief from judgments for “any other reason justifying relief from the operation of the judgment” besides those listed in the preceding sub-sections of Rule 4:50-1. Citing and quoting ‘multiple Supreme Court cases, Judge Ostrer observed that “[s]ubsection (f) affords relief in ‘exceptional...

Haley v. Board of Review, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). Here are the basic facts of this appeal as Justice Solomon summarized them in his opinion for the Court in this case: “Authorities arrested Clarence Haley for serious offenses and ordered that he be detained pretrial. One week later, Haley’s mother contacted his employer, Garden State Laboratories (Garden State), requesting on Haley’s behalf that his job be preserved. Eight weeks after that, a grand jury declined to indict Haley and the prosecutor dismissed all charges against him. In the interim, Garden State terminated Haley’s...

State v. Williams, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). Defendant was convicted in Municipal Court for violating an ordinance that stated that “No person shall unnecessarily obstruct any . . . street, or public place in the Borough [of Victory Gardens] with any kind of vehicle, boxes, lumber, wood, or any other thing[.]” Defendant had applied black paint over white lines on a paved surface whose status she disputed. The Borough said that surface was a street, while defendant claimed that it was part of her property as a “parking bay.” After a trial de novo in the Law...