Lapsley v. Sparta Tp., ___ N.J. ___ (2022). As discussed here, this Workers’ Compensation Act case was one in which plaintiff, a librarian at the Sparta Public Library, was walking through a parking lot owned by the Township to where her husband, who had come to pick her up, had parked their car. She was hit by a snowplow owned by the Township and driven by a Township employee. She sued for Workers’ Compensation benefits, and the Division of Compensation agreed that she should receive them. The Township appealed, and the Appellate Division reversed. Today, however, the Supreme...

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in two more cases. Both involved grants of certification. One appeal, a civil matter, is from a published opinion by a three-judge panel of the Appellate Division, while the other is an unpublished two-judge ruling in a criminal case. In re DiGuglielmo presents this question (as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk’s office): “Is a campus police officer at a public college or university eligible for special disciplinary arbitration administered by the Public Employment Relations Commission?” In an opinion reported at 465...

In re Verified Petition of Retail Energy Supply Ass’n, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). This appeal was from the inaction (not any action) by the Board of Public Utilities (“BPU”). Appellant Retail Energy Supply Association filed a petition in February 2019 asking the BPU to withdraw a January 2019 letter that barred appellant’s members from passing on to certain of their customers price increases that allegedly were caused by a statutory cost change required by operation of law. As the opinion of Judge Haas described, the BPU failed to act on that petition for...