I learned over the weekend that Stephen W. Townsend, the former Clerk of the Supreme Court had died. His obituary states that the date of his death was April 22. A graduate of Dumont High School, Bucknell University, and, in 1970, the Dickinson College School of Law, Stephen Townsend spent his entire professional life in the service of the New Jersey judiciary. Following a clerkship after law school, he was a senior attorney in the legal research section of the Administrative Office of the Courts. In 1973, he became Deputy Clerk of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, a position that he held...

Yesterday, by a 36-0 vote, the Senate rightly confirmed Anne Patterson as a Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey.  She will assume the seat now held by Justice Rivera-Soto when his term expires in September.

Risko v. Thompson Muller Automotive Group, Inc., 206  N.J. 506 (2011).  This case came to the Supreme Court because of improper remarks made by plaintiff’s counsel in his trial summation.  The case was a slip and fall that caused plaintiff’s decedent to suffer a fractured arm and hip.  The hip injury required surgery, which led to a severe inflammation of the colon, which developed into septic shock and ultimately caused the death of plaintiff’s decedent. Plaintiff’s counsel believed that the case warranted an award of at least $1 million.  He told the jury that the...