Today, the 2017-18 General Assignment Order issued by Chief Justice Rabner was published.  It is available here.

Judge Messano continues as Presiding Judge for Administration, and Judge Sabatino remains the Deputy Presiding Judge for Administration.  The Presiding Judges of the eight Parts of the Appellate Division are the same as last year, except that Judge Simonelli has replaced Judge Lihotz as Presiding Judge of Part B.  The other Presiding Judges, in Part letter order, are Judges Sabatino, Reisner, Alvarez, Messano,

Several days out of the office last week, and work on a large appellate brief, have left me well behind our appellate courts, who have produced a number of decisions in that interim.  To try to catch up, here are summaries of some of those rulings by the Appellate Division:

Leggette v. Government Employees Ins. Co., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2017).  This opinion by Judge Lihotz addressed in detail the Deemer Statute, N.J.S.A. 17:28-1.4.  That statute 

Dunbar Homes, Inc. v. Franklin Tp. Bd. of Adj., 448 N.J. Super. 583 (App. Div. 2017).  The Municipal Land Use Law (“MLUL”), in N.J.S.A. 40:55D-10.5, contains a “time of application rule” that determines what ordinance governs a land use development application.  Under that provision, regulations that are in effect “on the date of submission of an application for development” will apply.  But what qualifies a submission to a pla