LVNV Funding, LLC v. DeAngelo, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2020). What does a court do when each party is, for different reasons, in the wrong? That is the question that Judge Fisher had to answer in his opinion for the Appellate Division today. He largely answered that question by deferring to the fact-findings of the Law Division below. The appeal was from a Law Division decision to vacate a default judgment against defendant in a debt collection case, and to dismiss the complaint. After discovery and a plenary hearing, these were the facts that the Law Division found. In 2001,...

Due to a personal matter, there have been no posts on this blog since June 2. This post will summarize some of the decisions from our appellate courts since that date. Separately, Governor Murphy nominated Fabiana Pierre-Louis to fill the Supreme Court seat currently held by Justice Timpone when he reaches retirement age in November of this year. A separate post, on another day, will discuss that nomination. Finally, the Supreme Court granted certification in one new case, Haley v. Board of Review. The question presented there, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk’s office, is...

Township of Manalapan v. Gentile, ___ N.J. ___ (2020). Justice Solomon wrote this opinion, issued today, for a unanimous Court. The question was whether, in this condemnation case, the Law Division erred in allowing the jury to hear testimony that the subject property’s highest and best use would require a variance without first having decided whether it was reasonably probable that the necessary variance would be granted. This issue was not new to the Court. In Borough of Saddle River v. 66 East Allendale, LLC, 216 N.J. 115 (2013), the defendant property owner had argued the highest...