Hager v. M&K Construction, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). As discussed here, the Appellate Division in this case affirmed the decision of a Workers Compensation judge that the defendant employer was obligated to reimburse the plaintiff employee for the employee’s use of medical marijuana prescribed for chronic pain caused by a work-related accident. The Appellate Division rejected arguments by the employer that, among other things, the federal Controlled Substances Act 21 U.S.C. § 841 (“CSA”), which makes it a crime to manufacture, possess or distribute marijuana, preempts the...

The principle that a court should not write into a statute a qualification that the Legislature chose not to include is now a basic tenet of statutory interpretation. But it was seemingly a somewhat new idea on this date in 1952, when the Supreme Court decided Craster v. Board of Commissioners of City of Newark, 9 N.J. 225 (1952). As Justice Wachenfeld stated in his opinion for the Court, the question in the case was “whether, under the circumstances presented, a person who has qualified under each of two separate pension retirement plans has the privilege of electing the one most...

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in Meade v. Township of Livingston. The question presented in that case, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk’s office, is “In this action alleging wrongful termination based on gender discrimination in violation of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, was plaintiff’s claim sufficient to survive summary judgment?” The Law Division granted summary judgment to defendant, and the Appellate Division affirmed that ruling in an unpublished per curiam opinion by a two-judge...