Litigators, be careful about sending friend requests on Facebook. The Office of Attorney Ethics (OAE) brought disciplinary charges against Robertelli, asserting that he violated Rules of Professional Conduct (“RPC”) 4.2 when, in 2008, his paralegal sent a Facebook message to, and was granted “friend” status by someone, who had filed an action against Robertelli’s client. … Read more
The New Jersey Supreme Court held that dog owners do not have an objectively reasonable expectation of privacy such that the owner’s personal information in the dog licensing record is exempt from disclosure under the Open Public Records Act. Here, the owner of an invisible-fence company sought the address of all people who recently registered … Read more
The New Jersey Supreme Court reviewed a serial collateral attack on the defendant’s homicide convictions. He claimed his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to utilize certain exculpatory evidence to further a third-party-guilt defense. The case was a murder robbery where two “buyers” arranged a sale of heroin from two sellers, but the buyers intended … Read more
The New Jersey Supreme Court addressed the constitutionality of the hybrid jury selection process implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. The hybrid process involved sending a jury summonses with a COVID-19 questionnaire. The court administration was responsible for resolving any issues with access to technology for prospective jurors. More than 170 jurors were questioned virtually, and … Read more
This appeal concerned the standards to be applied by a trial court when reviewing a jury award of punitive damages against a public-sector defendant. Plaintiff worked for one of New Jersey’s juvenile correctional facilities when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Her second request for unpaid leave was denied, and her supervisor refused to explain … Read more
A former employee in a municipality’s tax assessor’s office was convicted of a federal offense touching upon his position of public employment. And based on that conviction, the state filed an action under N.J.S.A. 43:1-3.1 to compel the forfeiture of the defendant’s public pension. The defendant claimed that forfeiture of his right to a public … Read more
Applying the “heightened protection to telephone calls” afforded to New Jerseyans under Article I, Paragraph 7 of the New Jersey Constitution, a unanimous New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that law enforcement was not permitted to listen to a recorded call made by an arrestee from the stationhouse. A person was arrested for certain offenses and … Read more
In this appeal, the New Jersey Supreme Court was tasked with deciding whether N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2(g), a Megan’s Law provision that bars certain sex offenders from applying under N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2(f) to terminate their registration as sex offenders, applied to a registrant who committed Megan’s Law offenses before the date on which subsection (g) became effective but … Read more
The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that there is no assumption-of-the-risk exception to the strict liability imposed on dog owners by the Dog Bite Statute. The plaintiff was an employee of a kennel where the defendant boarded her dog while on vacation. During the dog’s stay, he bit the plaintiff. The Law Division and Appellate … Read more
This case presented the New Jersey Supreme Court with the issue of whether police officers responding to a one-vehicle accident on a highway bridge may be entitled to any of the immunities from liability provided by the New Jersey Tort Claims Act (“TCA”), N.J.S.A. 59:1-1 to 12-3, the Good Samaritan Act, N.J.S.A. 2A:62A-1 to -35, … Read more