In re D.L.B., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021); Valarezo-Tirado v. Attorney General of the United States of America, ___ F.4th ___ (3d Cir. 2021). It is a fundamental rule that courts must provide findings and reasons for their decisions. Litigants deserve to know why they won or lost, and reviewing courts (if cases go on appeal) need to know what decision they are reviewing. In the last two days, these two cases, one from the Appellate Division and one from the Third Circuit, re-emphasized the importance of findings and reasons for decision. In re D.L.B. was a case under New...

BV001 REO Blocker, LLC v. 53 West Somerset Properties, LLC, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). Judge Ostrer’s opinion in this case, issued today, may become the new “go-to” source in cases seeking to invoke Rule 4:50-1(f). That Rule permits relief from judgments for “any other reason justifying relief from the operation of the judgment” besides those listed in the preceding sub-sections of Rule 4:50-1. Citing and quoting ‘multiple Supreme Court cases, Judge Ostrer observed that “[s]ubsection (f) affords relief in ‘exceptional...

Pannucci v. Edgewood Park Senior Housing- Phase 1, LLC, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2020). As Judge Ostrer explained in his opinion for the Appellate Division today, the “settled doctrine of res ipsa loquitur,” which means “the thing speaks for itself,” allows a jury “to infer a defendant’s negligence, enabling a plaintiff to make a prima facie case.” To trigger the doctrine, a plaintiff must show that “first, the accident was one that ‘ordinarily bespeaks negligence,’ that is, someone’s negligence more likely than not...