Attorney Failure to Take Any Action Regarding Affidavit of Merit is Not “Extraordinary Circumstance” That Defeats Dismissal With Prejudice

Estate of Yearby v. Middlesex County, 453 N.J. Super. 388 (App. Div. 2018).  Today’s snowstorm offered the opportunity to circle back, belatedly, to this opinion by Judge Fuentes, which was issued on February 27. Plaintiffs’ decedent, who was allegedly mentally ...

Due to Weather, No Appellate Division Oral Arguments Today or Tomorrow

All state courts and offices, as well as the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, are closed today due to the snowstorm that has already begun.  The Appellate Division has postponed all oral arguments that had ...

The Supreme Court Will Re-Visit Health Club Waivers of Liability

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in Pulice v. Greenbrook Sports & Fitness, LLC.  The question presented in that appeal, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk’s Office, is “Did the trial court properly dismiss plaintiffs’ complaint ...

Fictitious Party (“John Doe”) Pleading, and Deadlines to Seek Dismissal Based on Statute of Limitations

Baez v. Paulo, 453 N.J. Super. 422 (App. Div. 2018).  This was a medical malpractice/wrongful death case.  The Law Division had precluded plaintiff from adding three doctors as defendants after the statute of limitations had expired, ruling that plaintiff had ...

Where Purported Forum for Arbitration is Non-Existent, Arbitration Agreement Will Not be Enforced

MacDonald v. Cashcall, Inc., 883 F.3d 220 (3d Cir. 2018).  There have been some outlandish circumstances in decisions involving arbitration, especially in the class action context.  But today’s case, a putative class action in which Judge Shwartz wrote a wise ...

Absolute vs. Qualified Immunity Under the Tort Claims Act

Lee v. Brown, 232 N.J. 114 (2018).  [Disclosure:  My firm, Lite DePalma Greenberg, LLC, represented certain defendants in this case who were dismissed from the case on motion prior to the appeal that is the subject of this post]  Today’s ...

The Anniversary of 525 Main St. Corp. v. Eagle Roofing Corp.

On this date in 1961, the Supreme Court decided 525 Main St. Corp. v. Eagle Roofing Corp., 34 N.J. 251 (1961).  The Court’s opinion, a 5-0 decision, was written by Chief Justice Weintraub. The case involved a roof on an ...

The Last Few Weeks, Part 2

Last week, the Supreme Court announced that it had granted certification in five more cases.  Three of them are criminal appeals, one involves additur after a jury verdict, and one implicates the entire controversy doctrine. The question presented in State ...

The Last Few Weeks, Part 1

Due to an unusual amount of business travel (alas, only to three cold-weather locations) and a hefty appellate brief, I have not been able to keep up with the courts in recent weeks.  Here is a belated, and far from ...

Another Certified Question Case From the Third Circuit, and Another Criminal Appeal, for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it will take up two more matters.  One is a certified question from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in a consumer protection context, specifically, the sale of Super Bowl tickets (with the next Super ...