New York Court of Appeals Finds that Plaintiffs Moving for Partial Summary Judgment on Liability are not Required to Prove the Absence of their Own Comparative Negligence
Plaintiff Carlos Rodriguez, a garage utility worker for the New York City Department of Sanitation, was standing between a parked car and a rack of tires when a sanitation truck, which was trying to back into a garage, crashed into the front of the parked car, propelling it into plain...
A Grocery Store is Not Liable for a Transitory Spill
A court dismissed a plaintiff’s Complaint filed against ShopRite for a fall due to debris in the main walkway of ShopRite’s parking lot in Monroe County, Pennsylvania. Karten v. ShopRite, Inc., No. 4416 CV 2016, (C.P. Dec. 3, 2018). ShopRite’s summary judgment was granted and the case...
Appellate Division Revisits Contract and Insurance Policy Interpretation
The Appellate Division on January 22, 2019 decided an interesting case regarding insurance coverage which has been approved for publication. The matter is Katchen v. GEICO et al., No. A-5685-16T4, 2019 WL 272926 (App. Div. Jan. 22, 2019). In December 2015, Plaintiff Katchen was inj...
Court Dismisses Pothole Case against County
Plaintiff Luz Cruz (“Cruz”) tripped and fell in a pothole when crossing River Avenue in Camden, New Jersey. She broke her fifth metatarsal of her left foot and sued the County of Camden for her injuries. In Cruz v. Camden County, 2019 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 385 (App. Div. Feb. 19, 2...
New Jersey Governor Signs New Minimum Wage Law
One of Governor Murphy’s key electoral platforms during his gubernatorial campaign was his goal to increase New Jersey’s minimum wage. That electoral promise became a reality just a few short weeks ago. On February 4, 2019, Governor Murphy officially signed into law the New Jersey Mi...
Under Narrow Circumstances, NJ Supreme Court Permits Filing of Late Notice of Claim When Claimant Identifies Correct Public Entity in Notice of Claim but Serves Wrong Entity
This case involves two fatalities following a multi-vehicle accident. Both Timothy O’Donnell and his 5 year old daughter B.O. were killed. Pamela O’Donnell, Timothy’s widow, retained an attorney who prepared a Tort Claims Act notice and identified the correct public entity in the Tort...
Third Party Harassment and the Law
Whenever I conduct anti-harassment training for employers, one of the concepts I address is the employer’s obligation to protect employees from sexual and other forms of harassment by third parties who are neither employed by, nor affiliated with, the employer but who are in regular c...
Municipality Held Not Liable for Fall over Bench at its Baseball Field
The plaintiff Anthony Victor filed suit against the Borough of Red Bank and its Board of Education after he tripped over the dugout bench that had been moved behind the bleachers of the municipality’s baseball field. The plaintiff had been at the Red Bank Count Basie Field to watch hi...
Dress Codes and Docking of Pay
When I examine employee handbooks as part of my legal review of such documents, a frequently seen policy involves dress codes and the inclusion of possible employee sanctions for not following such a policy. Most policies I review inform employees that if they fail to follow the...
Is Forty Years A Long Enough Wait to Strengthen the Intoxication Defense?
One of the many defenses employers can raise in a workers’ compensation case is that of employee intoxication. N.J.S.A. 34:15-7 states that when an injury or death is intentionally self-inflicted, or when it is a matter of intoxication, the employee is not entitled to compensation. ...
Appellate Division Reverses Order Denying Motion to Dismiss NJCRA Claims against New Jersey DEP Employees on the Basis of Qualified Immunity
In the recent precedential opinion of Radiation Data, Inc. v. N.J. Dep’t of Envtl. Prot., 2018 N.J. Super. LEXIS 149 (App. Div. Nov. 2, 2018), the Appellate Division highlighted the importance of resolving a public employee’s assertion of qualified immunity on a motion to dismiss for...
5 New Year’s Resolutions For Your Workplace In 2019
With 2019 around the corner, employers are presented with a wonderful opportunity to review internal policies/procedures and hopefully help avoid future workplace legal problems. Here are five suggested New Year’s Workplace Resolutions for 2019. When was the last time your employee...
New Jersey Workers' Compensation Manual
John H. Geaney, Esq. publishes a yearly manual aimed on providing practitioners, adjusters and employers with key information on Workers’ Compensation in the State of New Jersey.