Hamer v. Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, ___ U.S. ___ (2017).  In Bowles v. Russell, 551 U.S. 205 (2007), the Supreme Court of the United States explained that an appeal filing deadline mandated by statute is jurisdictional, meaning that a late filing requires dismissal of the appeal.  But a time limit contained in a rule of a court is not jurisdictional, and can be forfeited (most of us would say “waived,” but the Court explaine

Royster v. New Jersey State Police, 227 N.J. 482 (2017).  Today’s decision is a unique one.  Writing for the majority of five Justices (Justices LaVecchia, Patterson, Fernandez-Vina, Solomon, and Timpone), Justice Solomon affirmed the decision of the Appellate Division that the New Jersey State Police could properly assert the doctrine of sovereign immunity for the first time in a seven-year litigation in a post-trial motion for judgment.  The jury had awarded plainti

Chassen v. Fidelity Nat’l Financial, Inc., 836 F.3d 291 (3d Cir. 2016).  [Disclosure:  I was an expert witness for plaintiffs in this case, but my Declaration and deposition testimony was not the subject of, or referred to in, this opinion].  This was a putative class action involving allegedly improper charges, ranging from $70 to $350, stemming from the recording of deeds and mortgages.  Though there were arbitration clauses in defendants’