Miller v. State Operated School District of the City of Newark, ___ N.J. ___ (2019). Today, in a per curiam opinion, the Supreme Court affirmed, by a 5-2 vote, the Appellate Division’s previously unpublished decision in this matter on the opinion below. That opinion, written by Judge Vernoia, was also approved for publication and appears at ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2019). Justices LaVecchia and Patterson were the dissenters. The issue, quoted in full here, was whether the defendant school district’s termination of plaintiff’s employment violated her tenure rights...

Minsavage v. Board of Trustees, Teachers’ Pension & Annuity Fund, ___ N.J. ___ (2019). This per curiam opinion addressed the question “whether a widow can modify the retirement application of her recently deceased husband, who was a member of the Teachers’ Pension and Annuity Fund (Pension Fund), even though his application was never approved because he selected a retirement option for which he was ultimately ineligible.” The Board had ruled against the widow (“Christine”), the plaintiff here, and the Appellate Division affirmed. The Supreme Court, however,...

J.H. v. R&M Tagliereni, LLC, ___ N.J. ___ (2019). [There was the potential of a guest post regarding this case, but that did not pan out. That’s the reason for the delay in this post.] This was a tragic case, in which the Supreme Court split 5-2. Plaintiff, a nine-month old infant, was severely burned when he rolled from a bed into an uncovered radiator in his family’s apartment, which was leased from defendants. Plaintiff and his guardian ad litem sued for his injuries, claiming negligence by the landlord in failing to cover the radiator. The Law Division granted summary...