Legal Research

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STATE DECISIONS:

Algarin v. Haledon Board of Education
GOVERNMENT - School Board Elections
"Plaintiff's nominating petition should not have been invalidated by the board because she was not registered to vote in the district when she signed the candidate's acceptance and oath of allegiance, where she properly registered to vote before timely filing her nominating petition."

New Jersey Shore Builders Ass'n v. Township of Jackson
LAND USE AND PLANNING - Set-Asides
"The Municipal Land Use Law does not empower municipal governments to require developers to set aside land for common open space or recreational areas, except with regard to applications for planned unit developments."

Mount Holly Township Board of Education v. Mount Holly Township Education Association
LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT - Collective Bargaining
"To the extent provisions in an individual employment contract conflict or are inconsistent with terms in a collectively negotiated agreement, and diminish or interfere with rights provided therein, the language in the individual contract must yield to the collective agreement. "

In re W.X.C.
CRIMINAL PRACTICE - Sexually Violent Predators
"The state's alleged failure to offer defendant sex offender treatment during his incarceration does not render his civil commitment under the Sexually Violent Predator Act punitive, in violation of the ex post facto clause. "

Trump Plaza Associates v. Dir., Div. of Taxation
TAXATION - Sales and Use Tax - Limitations on Actions
"An equitable exception to the four-year statute of limitations for seeking a refund of mistakenly paid sales taxes is not available when the state is not the cause of the mistake."

Shore Orthopaedic Group, L.L.C. v. The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States
INSURANCE LAW - Attorneys' Fees - Disability Overhead Insurance
"Plaintiff-medical practices' claim under the disability overhead expense policy it purchased for its members is a first-party claim; therefore, although successful, it cannot recover attorneys' fees under Rule 4:42-9(a)(6)."

Berk Cohen Associates at Rustic Village, L.L.C. v. Borough of Clayton
GOVERNMENT - Apartment Complex - Curbside Collection
"A municipal garbage-collection scheme requiring all residents to abide by the same curbside requirements facially adheres to the guarantees of equal protection, but its application in a particular case cannot be so arbitrary as to deny due process of law."

Warren Hospital v. New Jersey Dep't of Human Services, Division of Mental Health Services
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW - Mental Health Screening Centers
"The involuntary civil commitment statute does not require screening centers to offer services from a fixed location in a hospital; the grant of a waiver from the regulatory location requirement was not arbitrary or capricious."

Van Note-Harvey Assocs., P.C. v. New Jersey Schools Development Authority
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW - School Construction
"New Jersey Schools Development Authority did not comply with N.J.A.C. 19:38C-5.6 when it selected seven firms to serve as site consultants for school construction in special-needs districts when it did not prepare a consolidated ranking but based its decision on interview scores alone."

FEDERAL DECISIONS:

In re Handel
ATTORNEYS' FEES - Bankruptcy Discharge
"Plaintiff-law firm has no recourse against the commissioner of the Social Security Administration for the unpaid amount of attorneys' fees awarded as part of the award of disability benefits to its client."

Hagan v. Rogers
CIVIL PRACTICE - Joinder - Prisoner Litigants
"In forma pauperis prisoners are not categorically barred from joining as plaintiffs under Rule 20. "

Harvard Secured Creditors Liquidation Trust v. Internal Revenue Service
TAXATION - Carry-Back
"Payments to a qualified pension plan that were made pursuant to a settlement agreement arose under federal law and were therefore "specified liability losses" that qualified for a 10-year net operating loss carry-back pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 172(f)."

Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One v. Holder
ELECTION LAW - Voting Rights Act - Bailout Provision
"The Voting Rights Act must be interpreted to permit all political subdivisions, including a small utility district with an elected board, to seek to bail out from the statute's preclearance requirements."

Coeur Alaska Inc. v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW - Environmental - Standard of Review
"The Army Corps of Engineers, not the Environmental Protection Agency, has authority to permit "slurry" discharge into a lake, since a two-permit regime is contrary to statute and regulations and deference to internal agency interpretation to resolve a statutory ambiguity is thus appropriate. "

Forest Grove School District v. T.A.
SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION - IDEA
"The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act authorizes reimbursement for private special-education services when a public school fails to provide a free or appropriate public education and the private-school placement is appropriate, regardless of whether the child previously received special-education services through the public school."

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