Hager v. M&K Construction, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). As discussed here, the Appellate Division in this case affirmed the decision of a Workers Compensation judge that the defendant employer was obligated to reimburse the plaintiff employee for the employee’s use of medical marijuana prescribed for chronic pain caused by a work-related accident. The Appellate Division rejected arguments by the employer that, among other things, the federal Controlled Substances Act 21 U.S.C. § 841 (“CSA”), which makes it a crime to manufacture, possess or distribute marijuana, preempts the...

Haley v. Board of Review, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). Here are the basic facts of this appeal as Justice Solomon summarized them in his opinion for the Court in this case: “Authorities arrested Clarence Haley for serious offenses and ordered that he be detained pretrial. One week later, Haley’s mother contacted his employer, Garden State Laboratories (Garden State), requesting on Haley’s behalf that his job be preserved. Eight weeks after that, a grand jury declined to indict Haley and the prosecutor dismissed all charges against him. In the interim, Garden State terminated Haley’s...

Late last week, the Supreme Court and the Appellate Division each issued two published opinions. Neither court has issued any published opinions this week (nor is either court slated to do so tomorrow, a relatively long hiatus for both courts at this point in a Term), thus affording time for another catch-up post. Here are summaries of those latest opinions. Maison v. New Jersey Transit Corp., ___ N.J. ___ (2021). This was a 4-3 decision in a case in which plaintiff, a passenger on a New Jersey Transit bus, was attacked and injured by another passenger, who threw a bottle at plaintiff....