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 Jud

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 go

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