N.J. SUPREME COURT

State v. O'Donnell

•      
  • Subscription Required

Police are allowed to remain at a murder site after a proper entry under the emergency aid exception to the warrant requirement, thereby authorizing the lawful seizure of evidence in plain view.

Approved Congoleum Bankruptcy Plan Puts All Asbestos Claims in Same Boat

After nearly seven years and more than a dozen failed attempts, a reorganization plan allowing Congoleum Corporation to emerge from bankruptcy has finally met with a federal judge's approval.

Shakeout Ahead for Statute Allowing Suits Against Builders Who Disguise Hires

•      
  • Subscription Required

A carpenters' union has brought a class action against homebuilding titan D.R. Horton, the first known private litigation under a state law aimed at disguising undocumented workers as independent contractors to avoid paying taxes and employee benefits.

Punitive Damages, Attorneys' Fees Visited on Mortgage Rescue Firm

•      
  • Subscription Required

A judge orders the president of a debt-relief firm and one of its salesmen to pay $75,000 in punitive damages, and more in attorneys' fees, for defrauding a homeowner into a sale and lease-back deal.

Supreme Court Won't Hear Attack on Civil Union Law, Calling It Premature

An evenly divided Supreme Court declines to hear the plaint of civil rights activists that New Jersey has failed to honor the Court's 2006 mandate calling for equal treatment under the law for same-sex couples.

Drug Court Admission Discretionary, Full Hearing Not Required, Court Says

•      
  • Subscription Required

A trial-like hearing is not necessary because the decision whether to approve a drug court application is 'essentially a sentencing decision' in which the judge decides whether a probationary sentence is appropriate, the state Supreme Court says.

Judge Orders N.J. Factory To Rehire 50 Workers Locked Out in Dispute

A federal judge orders a South Kearny companyto reinstate 50 workers shut out during contract talks, finding National Labor Relations Act violations likely.

Ethics Panel Weighs Judge's Conduct of Case in Which His Political Ally Was a Witness

•      
  • Subscription Required

The Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct opens hearings on charges that Steven Perskie, while a Superior Court judge, failed to disclose a close political relationship with a potential witness in a legal malpractice case and was not candid when the subject came up at his tenure hearing in the state Senate Judiciary Committee.

Settlement Closes Levinson Axelrod Gripe Site

•      
  • Subscription Required

The former Levinson Axelrod associate who launched a website mocking the firm —and got sued for it — has quietly settled the litigation and shut down the page. The site, levinsonaxelrodreallysucks.com, is no more.

White Collar Crimes

U.S. taxpayers with foreign accounts should become aware of the filing requirements mandated by the IRS to avoid federal crime charges. A recent U.S. Supreme decision sends the overriding message that mail and wire fraud statutes should be used to prosecute actual frauds and not ordinary thefts. Also, learn how to protect your property from intellectual property crime.