Legal Research

If you are already an online subscriber to the New Jersey Law Journal News Alert Service you should be able to click on any of the links provided below, sign in, and access the full text of articles listed.

Subscription required for online access:

ASSEMBLY PANEL APPROVES SEX OFFENDER RESIDENCY RESTRICTION BILL
"The Assembly Judiciary Committee on Monday unanimously approved a measure to vest municipal governments with power to restrict where sex offenders may live ? a power the state Supreme Court has found lacking. The bill would eviscerate the Court's twin holdings last May, in Township of Cherry Hill v. Barclay and G.H. v. Township of Galloway, that invalidated not only the Cherry Hill and Galloway ordinances ? which set exclusionary zones around schools, day care centers, playgrounds and parks ? but also similar ones in 118 other municipalities. The bill, which enjoys wide support, is opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey and the state Public Defender's Office."

COURT LIGHTENS UP ON IN-HOUSE-COUNSEL LICENSURE
"New Jersey's five-year-old limited license for in-house counsel is getting a makeover, in consideration of the plight of lawyers laid off from their corporate jobs. In an administrative determination made public Monday, the Supreme Court said an in-house lawyer whose employment is terminated may continue to work on a contract or per diem basis for his or her former employer, without having to get a plenary license. The displaced lawyer also need not re-apply for a license if the court is notified of new employment within one year. Previously, a lawyer whose job is terminated had only 90 days to find a job without having to renew the license, but the court said it extended that period in recognition of the state of the economy. "

FEES ALLOWED FOR OUT-OF-STATE BATTLES IN INSURANCE DISPUTE
"In a case of first impression, a New Jersey appeals court has held that an insured who locks horns with its carrier out of state can recover legal fees for those efforts if it eventually prevails in the coverage litigation here. The decision, in Myron Corp. v. Atlantic Mutual Insurance Corp., DDS No. 23-2-4058, allows a company based in Maywood, N.J., to pursue Atlantic Mutual Insurance Corporation for $160,000 in legal fees spent on litigation in a federal court in Illinois, prior to the case's eventual resolution in a Bergen County courtroom. The judges described the insurer's coverage complaints in Illinois as 'battles in a war that Myron ultimately won' and thus 'an integral part of the entire controversy over coverage.' "

OFFER-OF-JUDGMENT RULE CHANGES APPLY TO PENDING CASES
"A New Jersey appeals court rule on Monday that 2006 amendments to the state's much-misunderstood offer-of-judgment rule apply to cases pending at the time of the changes, absent exceptional circumstances. The decision in Kas Oriental Rugs, Inc. v. Matt Ellman, DDS No. 07-2-4075, reverses a $218,000 fee award under the previous version of the rule, R. 4:58, based on the appeals court's reasoning that even though the offer of judgment was made before the amendment, the dispute over the fee didn't occur until after 2006. In two previous decisions on the applicability of the 2006 amendments to cases pending at the time, the Court applied the pre-2006 rule in one and heard argument earlier this year in the other."

COURT TO WEIGH CONSTITUTIONALITY OF BANKRUPTCY REFORM ACT
"The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to resolve a long-simmering debate over the constitutionality of provisions in the controversial Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 that include lawyers as 'debt relief agencies' and restrict the advice they can give to clients. The Obama administration is challenging a ruling by the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that struck down, on First Amendment grounds, a provision prohibiting debt relief agencies from advising consumer clients 'to incur any additional debt when the assisted person is contemplating bankruptcy.' The case, U.S. v. Milavetz, Gallop & Milavetz, involves an Edina, Minn., plaintiffs' firm."

New Jersey Law Journal®
P.O. Box 20081, 238 Mulberry Street, Newark, N.J. 07101-6081
Customer Service Phone: (973) 642-0075