Two years ago, I noted in these pages that 3 to 2 rulings in the Appellate Division can be illuminating. Brian J. Shoot, “First Department’s 3-2 Rulings: Fault Lines of the Law,” NYLJ, May 3, 2016. Of course, one thing about virtually any 3 to 2 ruling is that, on a different day with a differently constituted panel, the ruling might have been 2 to 3. For this reason, one may hesitate to ascribe too much significance to such a ruling, at least until it recurs.

But, as I wrote back then, 3 to 2 rulings also reveal the fault lines in the law—the boundaries at which reasonable people can disagree.