Frustration of Purpose Valid Defense in NJ Contract Action

By: Betsy G. Ramos, Esq. The Doctrine of Frustration of Purpose is a valid defense in a breach of contract action. However, in JB Pool Management, LLC v. Four Seasons at Smithville Homeowners Assoc., 2013 N.J. Super. LEXIS 88 (June 13, 2013 App. Div.), the Appellate Division held tha...
February 26, 2014

Benefits of Marriage

Millions of Reasons to Say "I Do" Lillian Garis Booth and Michael Dabich, residents of Bergen County, were companions for 51 years.  They met in New York when Booth was 42 and Dabich was 27.  According to Dabich, they held themselves out as husband and wife before his family and socie...
February 25, 2014

Bungled Post-Offer Medical Examination Leaves School Liable to Job Applicant

A well-done post-offer medical examination requires great skill and expertise.  These elements were lacking when Adam LaFata applied for a job as Plant Engineer, essentially a custodial position, with the Dearborn Heights School District. One critical fact is that LaFata had been doin...
February 24, 2014

Sidewalk Raised by 1 ½ Inches Determined to be Dangerous Condition

By: Betsy G. Ramos In the unpublished decision of Colon v. Woodbridge Housing Authority, Docket no. A-1634-12T4 (October 30, 2013), the Appellate Division ruled that a 1 ½ inch raised sidewalk could constitute a dangerous condition under the Tort Claims Act. But, the Appellate Divisi...
February 24, 2014

Truck Driver’s Evasive Maneuver Insufficient to Form Basis for Liability

By: Christopher J. Hoare, Esq. A trucking company and its tractor trailer driver who avoided contact with the rear of a stopped vehicle by pulling into the adjoining lane without contacting with other vehicles was dismissed by summary judgment in the recent appellate decision of Mati...
February 21, 2014

FELA Preempts State Law

FELA Worker Not Eligible for New York’s No Fault Insurance Benefits By: Christopher J. Hoare, Esq. In a recent New York State Court decision, Christin v. Metro North Commuter Railroad, et al., the court reaffirmed the FELA’s superiority over N.Y. State Insurance Law when it dismissed...
February 21, 2014

USDC-DNY Dismisses FELA Suit

Accident Not Foreseeable to Railroad and Inadmissible Expert Opinion By: Christopher J. Hoare, Esq. In a recently issued 2014 trial court decision, Mitchell v. Metro North Commuter Rail, the Court delivered a double win to the railroad defendant in a lawsuit filed by a Metro North ca...
February 21, 2014

How About the “Will App” for iPhone?

On September 2, 2011, Karter Wu, a resident of Queensland, Australia, committed suicide.   Just before he took his life, he created a series of documents on his iPhone.  Most of these were final farewells.  However, among them was his expression of his Last Will. The document began w...
February 21, 2014
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