The Supreme Court announced that it will review two more cases. One of them is before the Court as of right, by virtue of a dissent in the Appellate Division. In the other case, the Court granted certification. Allen v. Cape May County produced a 2-1 split in the Appellate Division. The Law Division granted summary judgment to defendants, but the Appellate Division reversed in an unpublished opinion. Judge Accurso filed a lengthy dissent, which permitted defendants to appeal to the Supreme Court as of right. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk’s office, is...

New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency v. A.L., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2020). On October 28, 2019, in a per curiam opinion that can be found at 2019 WL 5544014 (App. Div. Oct. 28, 2019), Judges Fisher and Rose affirmed a Family Part decision finding defendant guilty of child abuse and neglect. After summarizing the facts and the arguments presented by defendant and the Law Guardian on appeal, the panel found that those contentions lacked sufficient merit to warrant further discussion in a written opinion, citing Rule 2:11-3(e)(1)(E), and affirmed based on the...

Landau v. Landau, 461 N.J. Super. 107 (App. Div. 2019). The honor of the first published Appellate Division decision of the new Term goes to Judge Accurso in this matrimonial appeal. The issue, as Judge Accurso framed it, was “whether the changed circumstances standard of Lepis v. Lepis, 83 N.J. 139, 157 (1980), continues to apply to a motion to suspend or terminate alimony based on cohabitation following the 2014 amendments to the alimony statute, N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23(n).” In Lepis, the Supreme court ruled that “[a] prima facie showing of changed circumstances must be made...