As Judge Fasciale’s majority opinion in this case today states, “[i]n 1973, Sundiata Acoli murdered State Trooper Werner Foerster and assaulted State Trooper James Harper.” A jury found him guilty of murder, atrocious assault and battery, armed robbery, and other crimes. He was given a sentence that amounted to life plus 24-30 years. When Acoli became eligible for parole, the Parole Board conducted a “paper hearing” and denied parole. Acoli appealed, and the case went to the Supreme Court. In Acoli v. New Jersey State Parole Bd., 224 N.J. 213 (2016), the Court...

Chief Justice Rabner has issued the general Assignment Order for 2019-2020. It is available here. As occurs every year, the eight Appellate Division Parts have been reshuffled. But some things remain the same. Judge Messano continues as Presiding Judge for Administration, and Judge Sabatino as Deputy Presiding Judge for Administration. Those two judges, as well as Judges Koblitz, Alvarez, Fisher, Yannotti, and Fuentes remain as Presiding Judges of their respective Parts. Judge Fasciale has become the Presiding Judge of Part B, a position previously held by Judge Simonelli. There are two...

Zahl v. Eastland, 2019 WL 2025237 (App. Div. May 8, 2019). [Disclosure: I argued this appeal for the successful defendants-appellants, having come into the case after the Law Division entered judgment against defendants]. This was a legal malpractice case in which the Law Division entered a default judgment against defendants of over $1,057,000. Defendants appealed, and today the Appellate Division (Judges Messano and Fasciale) reversed in an unpublished opinion. The panel adopted defendants’ characterization of the proceedings that led to the default judgment as a “train...