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Brunt v. Board of Trustees, Police & Firemen’s Retirement System, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2018).  In general, except as specified by statute, court rule, or a contract between parties, New Jersey follows the “American Rule,” under which litigants must bear their own fees and costs.  This decision today by Judge Rose, in a case that was argued before her and Judge Ostrer, and then re-argued before those two judges and Judge Sabatino, is the latest reiteration of that principle. Plaintiff was serving as interim deputy chief of the Middletown Township Police...

Sparroween, LLC v. Township of West Caldwell, 452 N.J. Super. 329 (App. Div. 2017).  Plaintiffs operated the Cigar Emporium in West Caldwell.  In that business, they sell tobacco products, but they also make tobacco products available to be smoked on the premises.  After plaintiffs had obtained development approvals from the municipal Planning Board, the Township’s Board of Health, acting under its power to preserve public health, adopted an ordinance that governed smoking within retail businesses that sell tobacco.  The ordinance restricted on-premises smoking to no more than two...