Supreme Court of New Jersey Decisions 2012
Date: December 13, 2012
Docket Number: a-48-11
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue on appeal before the Supreme Court in this case was whether the investigatory stop of defendant Don C. Shaw was constitutional, and if not, whether discovery of an outstanding parole warrant for his arrest was…
Date: October 25, 2012
Docket Number: a-68-10
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal, Defendant Stanley Smith (a/k/a Jerry Johnson) contended that the police improperly obtained certain telephone toll records and that evidence developed from those records should have been excluded at his…
Date: October 16, 2012
Docket Number: a-115-10
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Johnnie Parker was seventeen years old when he was questioned by police about the stabbing death of Demetreas Fletcher. Parker gave a statement to officers admitting that he and a friend, also a juvenile, had…
Date: October 10, 2012
Docket Number: a-4-11
Justia Opinion Summary: In an issue of first impression for the Supreme Court, the issue on appeal involved the precise standard that must be met to compel genetic testing to prove parentage when there is a presumed father. In April 2006,…
Date: September 26, 2012
Docket Number: a-2-11
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case concerned the nature of the nexus that must be proven by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) under the Spill Compensation and Control Act (Spill Act…
Date: September 25, 2012
Docket Number: a-1-11
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case was whether a thirteen-year-old's confession provided outside of the presence of his father should have been suppressed. After it was reported that thirteen-year-old A.W.…
Date: September 20, 2012
Docket Number: a-122-10
Justia Opinion Summary: This case required the Court to address the standard to be applied by Family Part judges when they determine whether the prosecution has demonstrated probable cause under N.J.S.A. 2A:4A-26(a)(2). It arose from a 2009…
Date: September 13, 2012
Docket Number: a-45-10
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this matter was whether a plaintiff, who was removed from public employment after positing a claim of employer retaliation in a civil service disciplinary proceeding, should have…
Date: September 12, 2012
Docket Number: a-14-11
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Manaf Stas, was convicted of allowing an intoxicated person to operate a vehicle over which he had custody and control. Defendant and another individual, Joseph Putz, were involved in an automobile accident in…
Date: September 12, 2012
Docket Number: a-9-11
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court centered on a decision by a county prosecutor to seek waiver of three juveniles, aged sixteen at the time of their offenses, to adult court for acts of delinquency that, as charged,…
Date: August 16, 2012
Docket Number: a-111-10
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case centered on whether weapons recovered from a defendant's premises during a search conducted pursuant to a warrant issued upon "reasonable cause" under the Prevention of…
Date: August 15, 2012
Docket Number: a-80-10
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs Jamie and Rebecca Gannon, maintained that plaintiff Jamie Gannon developed a form of brain cancer because of a series of polio vaccines he was given as a child. Plaintiffs pursued various forms of relief in…
Date: August 14, 2012
Docket Number: a-108-10
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant F.M. (Fernanda) appealed the termination of her parental rights to her now five-year-old daughter, Quinn, and four-year-old son, Troy, Jr. Both children were born of a relationship between Fernanda and T.J.…
Date: August 13, 2012
Docket Number: a-131-10
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Norman Jackson entered Murul Chowdhury's taxi through the front passenger door and demanded Chowdhury's money at gunpoint. Chowdhury handed over cash and his wallet. Defendant then ordered Chowdhury to drive…
Date: August 9, 2012
Docket Number: a-33-11
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, who was convicted at trial of sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child, argued that the trial court and the Appellate Division, which affirmed his convictions and sentence, deprived him of a fair…
Date: August 9, 2012
Docket Number: a-88-10
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2004, Billie Cornett received a drug-eluting stent to treat coronary artery disease. Five months later, a blood clot formed near the site of the stent and Cornett suffered a subacute stent thrombosis. Eleven days…
Date: August 8, 2012
Docket Number: a-60-09
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal, the issue before the Supreme Court centered on whether defendant Aurelio Ray Cagno's 2004 conviction for racketeering conspiracy was time-barred under the general five-year statute of limitations…
Date: August 7, 2012
Docket Number: a-121-10
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the issue before the Supreme Court was whether defendants were entitled to racial profiling discovery to challenge their convictions for attempted murder. The convictions relate to defendants' attack on a…
Date: August 6, 2012
Docket Number: a-16-11
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this appeal concerned the validity of Chapter 37 of the Laws of 2009, "Kyleigh’s Law." Plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunctive relief on the grounds that Chapter 37 is preempted…
Date: August 2, 2012
Docket Number: a-127-10
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case concerned the nature and extent of fees that may be recovered from a litigant in a matrimonial dispute by an individual who has been appointed to serve as a parenting…
Date: August 1, 2012
Docket Number: a-112-10
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Wade Stancil was injured in 1995 while employed by Orient Originals. He received workers' compensation benefits from his employer's compensation carrier, defendant ACE USA (ACE). In 2006, following a trial, the…
Date: July 31, 2012
Docket Number: a-99-10
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal the issue before the Supreme Court was whether a pet owner should be permitted to recover for emotional distress caused by observing the traumatic death of her pet. Upon review, the Court concluded was no…
Date: July 30, 2012
Docket Number: a-124-10
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case was whether the trial court erred in not sua sponte including the variation of the insanity-defense jury charge recognized in "State v. Worlock," (117 N.J. 596 (1990)),…
Date: July 26, 2012
Docket Number: a-106-10
Justia Opinion Summary: Police responded to an unverified 9-1-1 call reporting "a domestic dispute possibly involving a handgun" at a Carteret residence. Outside her apartment, Kamilah Richardson told the police that there was no problem in her…
Date: July 25, 2012
Docket Number: a-13-10
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal the Supreme Court considered the extent to which the Board of Governors of Rutgers, the State University (University) complied with the requirements of the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA), and if its…
Date: July 24, 2012
Docket Number: a-34-11
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2011, the Pension and Health Care Benefits Act (Chapter 78) was enacted into law, a law that applied to all public employees, including Supreme Court justices and Superior Court judges then in service. Article VI,…
Date: July 23, 2012
Docket Number: a-118-10
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Barrington McDonald appealed a trial court's denial of his motion to vacate his plea of guilty to three offenses arising from an automobile accident. Defendant, driving under the influence of alcohol, struck…
Date: July 18, 2012
Docket Number: a-105-10
Justia Opinion Summary: A "discrete, narrow legal question" came before the Supreme Court: is a health care provider who has received an assignment of personal injury protection (PIP) benefits from an insured obligated upon request to furnish…
Date: July 17, 2012
Docket Number: a-128-10
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal, the Court determined whether N.J.S.A. 26:2K-29 provided immunity to the Plainfield Rescue Squad as an entity, regardless of any negligent delay in transporting a gunshot victim to a hospital. According to…
Date: July 9, 2012
Docket Number: a-126-10
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal, the Supreme Court clarified the factors that courts may consider as part of their review of petitions for expungment of a criminal record. The Court concluded that defendants seeking expungement have the…
Date: July 5, 2012
Docket Number: a-97-10
Justia Opinion Summary: The question raised in this appeal was whether records of a legal clinic at a public law school were subject to the Open Public Records Act (OPRA). The Rutgers Environmental Litigation Clinic represented a private group…
Date: June 28, 2012
Docket Number: a-119-10
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs Memorial Properties, LLC (Memorial) and Mount Hebron Cemetery Association (Mt. Hebron) are respectively the manager and owner of Liberty Grove Memorial Gardens. Mt. Hebron was sued in 2007 and 2008 in seven…
Date: June 27, 2012
Docket Number: a-125-10
Justia Opinion Summary: In September 2005, Defendant Leroy Munroe was charged with murder and weapons offenses for the shooting death of Christian Natal. In March 2007, he pled guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter in exchange for…
Date: June 26, 2012
Docket Number: a-69-10
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Kenneth Van Dunk and his wife filed this suit in the Law Division after he suffered serious injuries in a trench collapse at a construction site workplace. Following discovery, the trial court granted summary…
Date: June 20, 2012
Docket Number: a-39-10
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Jean Millman worked as a sales representative for Plaintiff Target Industries, an industrial bag company. Plaintiff Thomas F. Fox was Target's director of development and purchased all of its assets after…
Date: June 19, 2012
Docket Number: a-79-10
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2004, an argument escalated into an altercation which left Julio Colon dead. Defendant Reynaldo Galicia and Hector Cordero drove from Vineland to Newark to confront Colon about a sport utility vehicle (SUV) that he…
Date: June 18, 2012
Docket Number: a-87-10
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue in this appeal was whether Defendant Buddy Randolph should have been permitted, at the remand for his resentencing, to present evidence of his rehabilitative efforts between his initial sentencing and…
Date: June 14, 2012
Docket Number: a-102-10
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2003, twelve year old C.A. engaged in instant message conversations with seventeen adult men; communications with six of those men included sexually explicit language. In her instant messages, C.A. did not mention…
Date: June 14, 2012
Docket Number: a-70-10
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants were charged with a series of robberies that took place in Middlesex, Essex, and Bergen Counties. Defendant Alnesha Minitee was apprehended almost immediately after the Bergen County incident, while Defendant…
Date: June 13, 2012
Docket Number: a-65-10
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Mazdabrook Commons Homeowner's Association, Inc. manages a common-interest community in which individual owners agree to certain common rules and restrictions for the benefit of the entire group. The Rules and…
Date: May 16, 2012
Docket Number: a-77-10
Justia Opinion Summary: In 1998, Dave Adams (fictitious name) filed a complaint against his uncle Wayne Anderson (fictitious name) alleging Anderson had sexually assaulted him at various times when Adams was a minor. Adams sought compensatory…
Date: May 14, 2012
Docket Number: a-84-10
Justia Opinion Summary: The issues in this appeal were whether, pursuant to "Contey v. New Jersey Bell Telephone Co.," 136 N.J. 582 (1994) or N.J.S.A. 48:3-17.1, an electric utility company is entitled to immunity for any negligence in its…
Date: May 8, 2012
Docket Number: a-114-10
Justia Opinion Summary: In June 2005, police discovered Defendant Juan Pablo Santos naked and in bed with a fourteen-year-old girl. He was arrested and, after receiving "Miranda" warnings, admitted that he lived with the girl and that they had…
Date: May 7, 2012
Docket Number: a-101-10
Justia Opinion Summary: This dispute arose in the context of a large construction project known as the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Transit System. Plaintiff Twenty-First Century Rail Corporation served as the prime contractor for the Project. In…
Date: May 3, 2012
Docket Number: a-98-10
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2007, the Legislature passed a series of reform measures designed to lower property taxes. Among other issues, the reforms attempted to address the problem of excessive benefits for high-level school administrators.…
Date: April 12, 2012
Docket Number: a-104-10
Justia Opinion Summary: Shortly before the trial was scheduled to begin, Defendant Marcus King's attorney informed the trial court that Defendant wished to represent himself at his trial. The trial court questioned Defendant with respect to his…
Date: March 8, 2012
Docket Number: a-61-10
Justia Opinion Summary: At the time of the attack, Anthony Andrews, who was temporarily living with his sister in an apartment across the hall, called 9-1-1. The call was routed to a State Police Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). When the…
Date: February 29, 2012
Docket Number: a-27-09
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant John Wessells was arrested and charged with various offenses, including first degree conspiracy to commit murder, purposeful or knowing murder by use of a handgun, and first degree attempted murder. He moved to…
Date: February 29, 2012
Docket Number: a-54-10
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Roland Davis had been a resident of the Devereux New Jersey Center (operated by Defendant Devereux Foundation) since shortly before his twelfth birthday. Plaintiff was diagnosed with autism, mental retardation,…
Date: February 28, 2012
Docket Number: a-105-09
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2005, "The Record," a newspaper owned by Defendant North Jersey Media Group, published an article about an SEC complaint. The headline of the article read: "3 N.J. men accused in $9M stock scam." Neither the SEC…
Date: February 28, 2012
Docket Number: a-109-10
Justia Opinion Summary: In these consolidated appeals, the Supreme Court considered whether "Padilla v. Kentucky" (130 S.Ct. 1473 (2010)) could be applied retroactively on collateral review, and whether defendants' attorneys were ineffective…
Date: February 28, 2012
Docket Number: a-129-10
Justia Opinion Summary: In these consolidated appeals, the Supreme Court considered whether "Padilla v. Kentucky" (130 S.Ct. 1473 (2010)) could be applied retroactively on collateral review, and whether defendants' attorneys were ineffective…
Date: February 27, 2012
Docket Number: a-103-10
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court concerned whether a defendant's prior convictions for disorderly persons offenses (inadmissible because they are not crimes) could be used to find that earlier criminal convictions were…
Date: February 27, 2012
Docket Number: a-11-11
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants Maryse and Emilio Guillaume failed to make their mortgage payment in April 2008, and made no payments since. In May 2008, the mortgage servicer "ASC" delivered a Notice of Intention to Foreclose informing them…
Date: February 27, 2012
Docket Number: a-73-10
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court was whether Plaintiff Kaime Kendall's lawsuit against the developers and marketers of the prescription drug Accutane, Hoffman-LaRoche, was barred by a two-year statute of limitations.…
Date: February 16, 2012
Docket Number: a-107-10
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff American Dream at Marlboro, L.L.C., is the successor in interest to Beacon Road Associates, L.L.C., an entity that served as the residential developer of a series of lots. In 1994 and 1995, Plaintiff’s…
Date: February 16, 2012
Docket Number: a-51-10
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant-Appellant KPMG already was in the process of auditing Papel Giftware's 1998 and 1999 financial statements when merger discussions began with Plaintiff Cast Art. In a November 1999 letter to Papel’s audit…
Date: February 16, 2012
Docket Number: a-56-10
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal was a companion to "New Jersey v. Hudson," (___ N.J. ___ (2012), decided on the same day), because it also involved the application of N.J.S.A. 2C:44-5(b) to an extended-term sentence. Here, the sentence was…
Date: February 16, 2012
Docket Number: a-58-11
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue on appeal in this case arose from the November 8, 2011 election of Gabriela Mosquera to the fourth Legislative district of the General Assembly. Shelley Lovett, who received the next highest number of votes,…
Date: February 6, 2012
Docket Number: a-64-10
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal and in "New Jersey v. McDonald," (2012), separately conducted sentencing proceedings resulted in sentences that imposed (in the aggregate) multiple extended-term sentences. In previous cases, the Supreme…
Date: February 6, 2012
Docket Number: a-78-10
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Frank A. Louis, Esq. represented Plaintiff Julia Gere in connection with Plaintiff's divorce from Peter Ricker. Pursuant to the property settlement agreement, Plaintiff had a six month window, which ended in…
Date: February 2, 2012
Docket Number: a-95-10
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, Officer Willie Rowe, was patrolling a particular area as part of the police department’s “Safe Block” initiative. Plaintiff had visited Defendants Mazel Thirty, LLC’s building once before on a similar patrol.…
Date: February 1, 2012
Docket Number: a-14-10
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court was whether it was proper for a police officer to testify at trial about how and why he assembled a photo array. In 2005, Angel Chalco left his home in Newark and headed toward the…
Date: January 25, 2012
Docket Numbers: a-100-10, a-72-10
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court consolidated this case with "Walker v. Guiffre" because it implicated the state's fee-shifting statutes. The Appellate Division found that the trial court's analysis of the reasonableness of Plaintiff's…
Date: January 25, 2012
Docket Numbers: a-72-10, a-100-10
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff May Walker alleged that Defendant Carmelo Guiffre violated the Consumer Fraud Act (CFA) and the Truth-in-Consumer Contract, Warranty and Notice Act (TCCWNA). After finding that Defendant violated the CFA and…
Date: January 24, 2012
Docket Number: a-18-10
Justia Opinion Summary: A grand jury returned a fifty-count indictment against Defendant Roy Friedman for offenses against his wife and children. Defendant entered a negotiated plea of guilty to three counts of second-degree aggravated assault…
Date: January 23, 2012
Docket Number: a-48-10
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case was whether the "spouse privilege" could be pierced using the three-part test set forth in "In re Kozlov" (79 N.J. 232 (1979) to prevent that spouse from testifying in a…
Date: January 19, 2012
Docket Number: a-66-10
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court was whether a court may consider as part of its determination of an as-applied challenge to State law limiting places where sexually-oriented businesses may operate, the availability of…
Date: January 18, 2012
Docket Number: a-60-10
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Selective Insurance Company of America declined to pay Defendant Arthur Rothman, MD's claims for needle electromyography (EMG) tests performed by his physician assistant (PA). Defendant took the insurance…
Date: January 18, 2012
Docket Number: a-74-10
Justia Opinion Summary: Mathi Kahn-Polzo and other experienced bicyclists were riding downhill on the shoulder of Parsonage Hill Road, which was owned and maintained by Essex County. She rode over a depression on the shoulder, lost control and…
Date: January 12, 2012
Docket Number: a-49-10
Justia Opinion Summary: Elizabeth O'Brien was found stuffed inside a closet in her home on the afternoon of January 30, 2008. It was determined that she died from blunt force trauma to her head. Defendant Demetrius Diaz-Bridges was questioned…
