I learned over the weekend that Stephen W. Townsend, the former Clerk of the Supreme Court had died. His obituary states that the date of his death was April 22. A graduate of Dumont High School, Bucknell University, and, in ...

Yesterday, by a 36-0 vote, the Senate rightly confirmed Anne Patterson as a Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey.  She will assume the seat now held by Justice Rivera-Soto when his term expires in September. ...

Risko v. Thompson Muller Automotive Group, Inc., 206  N.J. 506 (2011).  This case came to the Supreme Court because of improper remarks made by plaintiff’s counsel in his trial summation.  The case was a slip and fall that caused plaintiff’s ...

Wood v. New Jersey Manufacturers Ins. Co., 206 N.J. 562 (2011).  The question of what claims are triable to a jury has vexed the courts for many years, in various different contexts.  Wood contains a sound and scholarly analysis of ...

O Builders & Associates, Inc. v. Yuna Corp., 206 N.J. 109 (2011).  In 2004, the Supreme Court adopted Rule of Professional Conduct 1.18.  As it relates to the case decided today, that Rule deals with a lawyer’s ability to represent ...

Abbott v. Burke, 206 N.J. 332 (2011).  The merits of this latest decision on the funding necessary to satisfy the mandate of article VIII, section 4, paragraph 1 of the New Jersey Constitution that the State provide a “thorough and efficient system ...

State v. W.B., 205 N.J. 588 (2011).  After some twists and turns, recounted here, Justice Rivera-Soto stated that he would vote in cases where Judge Stern, who has been temporarily assigned to the Supreme Court, sat, except where Judge Stern cast the ...

Policemen’s Benevolent Ass’n v. City of Trenton, 205 N.J. 422 (2011).  The City of Trenton ordered certain employees to report for “muster” ten minutes before their shifts were to start, so that roll calls could be completed and the personnel promptly deployed ...

Seidman v. Clifton Savings Bank, S.L.A., 205 N.J. 150 (2011).  Under the business judgment rule, there is a rebuttable presumption that good faith decisions of a corporate board of directors are valid and not subject to attack by shareholders, absent fraud, self-dealing or unconscionable ...

State v. Shelley, 205 N.J. 320 (2011).  Statutory interpretation questions pop up endlessly.  In this case, defendant was accused of selling cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:35-7, which criminalizes drug sales “while on any school property used for school purposes ...