Samolyk v. Berthe, ___ N.J. ___ (2022). As discussed here, this case involved a set of facts in which one of the plaintiffs jumped into a lagoon to rescue their neighbors’ dog. The plaintiff was injured in doing that, and she and her husband sued the neighbors for their alleged negligence in allowing the dog to get into the lagoon. On a dispositive motion, the Law Division ruled against plaintiffs because no New Jersey case had extended the common law rescue doctrine, which allows suit against a negligent party for injuries suffered by a rescuer of a person, to the rescue of property,...

An enjoyable sojourn in Atlantic City for the New Jersey State Bar Association Annual Meeting and Convention delayed this post. I had the privilege of being part of a panel on “Effective Oral Argument in Appellate and Trial Courts,” which featured Justice Albin, Judge Shwartz of the Thgird Circuit, Judge Fisher of the Appellate Division, and Judge Williams of the District of New Jersey, which was great fun for the panelists and well-received by the overflow crowd of attendees. But now, on to summaries of this week’s published opinions (two other decisions this week were...

Acoli v. New Jersey State Parole Bd., ___ N.J. ___ (2022). A 2-1 Appellate Division decision, discussed here, upheld the New Jersey State Parole Board’s decision to deny parole to Sundiata Acoli, who “committed a horrific crime” in “his role in the murder of State Trooper Werner Foerster and the wounding of State Trooper James Harper in 1973 (the words of Justice Albin, the author of today’s majority opinion). Acoli was part of the Black Liberation Army, and one of the others involved in the murder was Joanne Chesimard, later known as Assata Shakur, who is...