Jersey Central Power & Light Co. v. Melcar Utility Co., 212 N.J. 576 (2013). Article I, paragraph 9 of the New Jersey Constitution provides that “the right to trial by jury shall remain inviolate.” In civil cases, jury trials are available only in cases that could be tried to a jury at common law. Claims for negligent damage to property have always been triable to a jury.
N.J.S.A. 48:2-80(d), a section of the Underground Facility Protection Act, N.J.S.A. 48:2-73 to -91, requires that parties who have claims for monetary relief for damage to underground facilities “shall” submit any such claims (if valued at less than $25,000) to a dispute resolution process within the Office of the Public Defender. There is no provision for a jury trial, not even an appeal de novo as in the auto arbitration context, for example.
Here, plaintiff JCP&L sued defendant Melcar in the Law Division, Special Civil Part, based on alleged damage to JCP&L’s underground electrical lines. On the trial date, defendant moved to dismiss the complaint on the grounds that the statute required JCP&L to proceed in dispute resolution within the Office of the Public Defender. The Special Civil Part granted that motion, and the Appellate Division affirmed. The Supreme Court granted certification and reversed in a per curiam opinion.
The Court concluded that it had no choice but to declare the statute unconstitutional. Property damage claims have always been triable to a jury, as the Court explained. The plain language of the statute did not provide any means of obtaining a jury trial, and neither the Court nor the Office of the Public Defender could write a jury trial right into the statute. The Court canvassed its precedents regarding how to read statutes, and noted that the statute’s use of “shall” rather than “may” meant that alternative dispute resolution, and not a jury trial, was mandatory. The Court left the correction of the statute to the Legislature.