The Bank of New York Mellon v. Corradetti, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). As discussed here, this case came before the Supreme Court on an appeal as of right, based on a dissent in the Appellate Division. The issue was whether the evidence at trial established that defendants’ signatures on a note and mortgage documents on which this foreclosure action was based were forgeries. After a bench trial, the Chancery Division declined to enforce the mortgage, holding that defendants had demonstrated forgery. The Appellate Division majority found the evidence of forgery sufficient, but Judge Accurso,...

In re AG Law Enforcement Directive Nos. 2020-5 & 2020-6, 465 N.J. Super. 111 (App. Div. 2020). Here is how Judge Accurso began her opinion for the Appellate Division in this important case: “Responding to state and national demands for accountability and reform of law enforcement following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced in June that he would end New Jersey’s decades-long practice of shielding the identities of law enforcement officers receiving major discipline for misconduct. Determining he could...

Libertarians for Transparent Government v. Cumberland County, 465 N.J. Super. 11 (App. Div. 2020). Judge Accurso issued this opinion for the Appellate Division today, the first published opinion in a civil case of this new Term. It arose under the Open Public Records Act, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et Seettlement seq., a statute doubtless familiar to readers of this blog. Judge Accurso well encapsulated the issue and the panel’s resolution of it in the first two sentences of her opinion: “The central issue on this appeal is whether a settlement agreement between defendant Cumberland County...