Today, Heffernan v. City of Paterson was argued in the Supreme Court of the United States. [Disclosure: My partner Victor Afanador handled this matter on behalf of defendants in the District Court and the Third Circuit. He was at counsel ...
My three-week trial ended late last week, with a successful jury verdict. But June was a very busy month in the world of New Jersey appellate practice, with numerous important decisions by the federal and state appellate courts. Some of ...
Holt v. Hobbs, ___ U.S. ___ (2015). As discussed here, this case reached the Supreme Court via a handwritten petition for certiorari by a Muslim prisoner in an Arkansas state corrections facility who wished to grow a one-half inch beard, due ...
Jennings v. Stephens, ___ U.S. ___ (2015). There is a settled principle that an appellate court may affirm on any basis, even if that basis was not relied on by the trial court, and respondents (or, in the federal system, appellees) are ...
Dart Cherokee Basin Operating Co., LLC v. Owens, ___ U.S. ___ (2014). This case reached a fairly simple conclusion: a notice of removal that removes to federal court a putative class action need not contain evidence to support a claim that ...
Joseph v. United States, ___ U.S. ___ (2014). Most if not all appellate courts have a rule that issues not raised in an opening brief cannot be raised in subsequent filings. That principle makes sense, as Justice Kagan said in ...
Today is Veterans Day, which currently is made a federal holiday by 5 U.S.C. §6103(a) and a state holiday by N.J.S.A. 36:1-1. The holiday began as Armistice Day, since it was first proclaimed by President Wilson in 1919, to commemorate the ...
The after-dinner speaker at tonight’s opening session of the Third Circuit Judicial Conference in Hershey, PA was Justice Alito, reprising his 2011 appearance. After being introduced by Chief Judge McKee as “Justice Electron” due to his reputed high-tech abilities, Justice ...
Octane Fitness, LLC v. Icon Health & Fitness, Inc., ___ U.S. ___ (2014), and Highmark Inc. v. Allcare Health Mgmt. System, Inc., ___ U.S. ___ (2014). New Jersey is a hotbed of patent and other intellectual property litigation, in part ...
Law v. Siegel, ___ U.S. ___ (2014). Outrageous behavior of a litigant deserves to be punished. That is why provisions such as Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 and a comparable bankruptcy rule, Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 9011, among ...