Several days out of the office last week, and work on a large appellate brief, have left me well behind our appellate courts, who have produced a number of decisions in that interim.  To try to catch up, here are summaries of some of those rulings by the Appellate Division:

Leggette v. Government Employees Ins. Co., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2017).  This opinion by Judge Lihotz addressed in detail the Deemer Statute, N.J.S.A. 17:28-1.4.  That statute 

In recent years, acceptance by the Supreme Court of questions certified to it by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals under Rule 2:12A has become somewhat more frequent, though still not a regular occurrence.  Today, May 16, however, is the anniversary of the Court’s first opinion answering a certified question under Rule 2:12A.  Musikoff v. Jay Parrino’s The Mint, 172 N.J. 133 (2002).  Justice Verniero wrote the opinion for a unanimous Court.

The question

Allstate Ins. Co. v. Northfield Medical Center, P.C., ___ N.J. ___ (2017).  After a bench trial, defendants were found to have violated the Insurance Fraud Prevention Act, N.J.S.A. 17:33A-1 to -30 (“IFPA”).  The violation arose from defendants’ use of “a practice structure that was designed to circumvent regulatory requirements with respect to the control, ownership, and direction of a medical practice.”  But an IFPA violation