Tag: Judge Michael Haas

BPU Inaction for 20 Months Results in a Remand for the Agency to Act

In re Verified Petition of Retail Energy Supply Ass’n, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). This appeal was from the inaction (not any action) by the Board of Public Utilities (“BPU”). Appellant Retail Energy Supply Association filed a petition ...

Back in Action

The appellate courts have not been idle since the most recent post on this blog. Opinions have been issued, the Supreme Court has taken up more cases for review, and the Appellate Division has entered an Order about scheduling in ...

Barring Owner of Two-Family Home From Leasing Both Units to Renters is Unlawful

Tirpak v. Borough of Point Pleasant Beach, 457 N.J. Super. 441 (App. Div. 2019).  This per curiam opinion, issued today by a panel consisting of Judges Sabatino, Haas, and Sumners, affirms a decision of Judge Marlene Lynch Ford of the ...

Rulings on Lack of Personal Jurisdiction and Forum Non Conveniens Normally Require a Discovery Record

Rippon v. Smigel, 449 N.J. Super. 344 (App. Div. 2017).  This opinion by Judge Haas today reverses a dismissal that was based on lack of personal jurisdiction, forum non conveniens, and res judicata.  The main reason was the state of ...

No Valid Settlement With DEP Absent Signature and Public Notice of Proposed Settlement

Cumberland Farms, Inc. v. New Jersey Dep’t of Environmental Protection, 447 N.J. Super. 444 (App. Div. 2016).  Plaintiff (“CFI”) operates convenience stores and gas stations in many locations in New Jersey.  Hazardous substances are discharged at some of those locations.  ...

Twenty One Day Advance Voter Registration Requirement is Held Constitutional

Rutgers University Student Assembly v. Middlesex Cty. Bd. of Elections, 446 N.J. Super. 221 (App. Div. 2016).  This appeal involved the constitutionality of N.J.S.A. 19:31-6.3b, which requires eligible voters to register at least twenty one days before an election in ...

Hospitals Lose Their Appeal of Horizon’s OMNIA Health Alliance

Capital Health System, Inc. v. New Jersey Dep’t of Banking & Insurance, 445 N.J. Super. 522 (App. Div. 2016).  In September 2015, the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance (“the Department”) approved a plan put forward by Horizon Blue ...

Parent Did Not “Abandon” Child So As to Lose Right to Share of Son’s Intestate Estate

In re Estate of Michael D. Fisher, II, 443 N.J. Super. 180 (App. Div. 2015).  Under N.J.S.A. 3B:5-4(b), when a person dies with no spouse or children, the person’s parents each share equally in the decedent’s intestate estate.  A parent ...

“Appeals Are Taken From Judgments and Not From Opinions, Let Alone Dicta”

Bandler v. Melillo, 443 N.J. Super. 203 (App. Div. 2015).  It is a venerable rule that a party may appeal only a judgment, not the contents of an opinion that supports the judgment.  Thus, if a party is not contesting ...

Summary Action to “Enforce Agency Orders” Cannot Proceed Where Agency Has Not Ordered Specific Relief

Bacon v. New Jersey State Dep’t of Education, 443 N.J. Super. 24 (App. Div. 2015).  Many of us know about so-called “Abbott school districts,” districts in economically distressed urban areas that are named for the Abbott v. Burke cases, which ...