New Jersey

October 02, 2025
Energy Dept. Cancels $7.5B In Blue State Project Awards

The U.S. Department of Energy said it's terminating over $7.5 billion in grants for energy projects, which are primarily clean energy projects located in blue states and include a regional hydrogen hub in California slated to receive a $1.2 billion funding commitment.
October 02, 2025
J&J Must Pay $10M In Punitive Damages After Asbestos Loss

A Connecticut state court judge has hit Johnson & Johnson with $10 million in punitive damages after a jury sided with a builder who alleged the company's baby powder caused his terminal cancer, adding the amount to an existing $15 million verdict.
October 02, 2025
NJ Says RealPage Price-Fixing Claims Meet 'Cartel' Standard

The New Jersey government defended its price-fixing claims against RealPage Inc. and multiple landlords in federal court, arguing that the defendants' collusion to jack up rents represents "cartel conduct in its most traditional form."
October 02, 2025
Attys Get Mixed NJ Discipline After Fraud Convictions

The New Jersey Supreme Court has disbarred ex-Sacks Weston attorney Scott Diamond from the practice of law in the Garden State following his conviction for fraudulently resolving cases behind the back of his old firm, according to filings issued Thursday.
October 02, 2025
DOL Wants Full 3rd Circ. To Eye H-2A Enforcement Ruling

The Department of Labor has argued that a New Jersey farm's alleged violations of the H-2A visa program didn't involve private rights as it urged the full Third Circuit to flip a panel's decision that the department couldn't use in-house administrative proceedings to impose fines.
October 02, 2025
McCarter & English Won't Face Pretrial Win Bid In $22M Suit

A Connecticut Superior Court judge has denied requests by Phoenix Life Insurance Co. and PHL Variable Insurance Co. to file late partial summary judgment motions in a $22.3 million professional negligence lawsuit against McCarter & English LLP over the law firm's work on a Long Island loan deal.
October 02, 2025
NY-NJ Port Authority Keeps Win In Worker COVID Death Case

A New Jersey state appeals court won't revive a widow's suit against Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corp. alleging that its negligence led to her husband dying of COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic, saying the trial court rightly excluded her expert's opinion and the death certificate from evidence.
October 01, 2025
States Say DOJ Can't Tie Victim Service Funds To Immigration

Several state attorneys general sued the U.S. Department of Justice in Rhode Island federal court Wednesday over new restrictions prohibiting them from using federal funding that supports crime victims to provide services to "removable aliens," in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act and the U.S. Constitution's spending clause.
October 01, 2025
Coinbase Gets Securities Suit Over Biz Risks Trimmed

A New Jersey federal judge trimmed claims from a class action against Coinbase alleging the crypto exchange misrepresented or concealed parts of its business, ruling that claims tied to bankruptcy risk and regulatory disclosures that aren't based on group pleading can proceed, while claims related to proprietary trading statements were dismissed.
October 01, 2025
Inventor's $11M Award Slashed To $5M Over Pet Device IP

A New Jersey federal judge has hit two pet supply companies with a $5 million damages bill for misappropriating a woman's idea for a skin medicine applicator for dogs and cats, more than four years after the Federal Circuit faulted the original $11 million award in the long-running case.
October 01, 2025
NJ Boroughs, Townships' Affordable Housing Suits Tossed

A New Jersey state judge has permanently thrown out two lawsuits from multiple boroughs and townships challenging a 2024 state law laying out how much new affordable housing needs to be built, ruling the plaintiffs failed to bring a viable legal claim.
October 01, 2025
Justices Asked To Review Gun Ban For Marijuana Users

A marijuana user has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his case arguing that a federal law prohibiting drug users from owning guns runs afoul of the Second Amendment.
October 01, 2025
3rd Circ. Hints Forum Query Premature In $139M Award Row

A Third Circuit panel wondered Wednesday whether a Delaware court asked the right question before it concluded that it lacked jurisdiction over a Chilean company's quest to rope an Italian contractor's U.S. assets into a bid to collect on a $139 million arbitration award.
October 01, 2025
NJ Panel Skeptical Of Giving Benefits To Disciplined Ex-Judge

New Jersey appellate judges appeared doubtful Wednesday about a bid for disability retirement benefits from a former state judge who was accused of harboring her then-fugitive boyfriend, was disciplined and was criminally charged but not convicted, questioning her assertion that the misconduct was unrelated to her judicial position.
October 01, 2025
Opt-Outs Lacked Clarity About $100M Verizon Deal, Panel Told

A New Jersey trial court exceeded its authority by validating opt-outs from a $100 million class deal based on signatures transposed from retainer agreements that never mentioned the settlement, counsel for Verizon Wireless told a state appellate panel during oral arguments Wednesday.
October 01, 2025
Atty Asks 3rd Circ. For New Trial In Malicious-Litigation Case

A lawyer who lost her malicious-litigation lawsuit against three Blank Rome LLP attorneys and an aviation parts company has asked the Third Circuit to review a Pennsylvania federal judge's ruling that she was not entitled to a new trial.
October 01, 2025
Pick For Del.'s 3rd Circ. Seat Advances Despite Few State Ties

Jennifer L. Mascott, nominee for a Delaware seat on the Third Circuit, who is currently serving in the White House Counsel's Office and has come under scrutiny for her lack of ties to the state, had her nomination voted out of committee along party lines Wednesday.
September 30, 2025
3rd Circ. Parses 'Could' And 'Would' In Lipitor Lawsuit

A Third Circuit panel questioned Tuesday whether drug wholesalers and health plans had offered enough evidence that Pfizer Inc. and Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. conspired to delay generic competition for the cholesterol drug Lipitor, focusing on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would have approved the competitor earlier than November 2011.
September 30, 2025
Mass. Judge Issues Stinging Rebuke Of Protester Removals

A Massachusetts federal judge ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration's policy of arresting, detaining and trying to deport foreign students for Palestinian advocacy violates the First Amendment, which the judge said protects the free speech of noncitizens and citizens alike.
September 30, 2025
3rd Circ. Mulls Liens On Casino Revenue In Pa. City's Ch. 9

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday pressed attorneys for Delaware County and municipal bondholders on why their liens on city-generated revenues carried forward when the Pennsylvania city of Chester filed for bankruptcy in 2022.
September 30, 2025
NPR Fights CPB's $30M Grant Shift In Court

A federal judge got assurances from Corporation for Public Broadcasting lawyers Tuesday that it won't commit $30 million to a new National Public Radio alternative for managing the public radio satellite system for at least the next month as he considers a motion from NPR for an injunction blocking the move indefinitely.
September 30, 2025
NJ Law Firm Defeats Suit Over Boardwalk Pier Investment

A New Jersey law firm won summary judgment in federal court over malpractice claims by a couple suing over a failed investment in an Atlantic City boardwalk project.
September 30, 2025
Law Professors, Tech Groups Back ROSS In Westlaw IP Fight

A tech startup appealing an adverse fair use ruling to the Third Circuit has received nearly a dozen briefs in support of its position that it did not infringe copyrighted material from Thomson Reuters' Westlaw platform to create a competing legal research tool driven by artificial intelligence.
September 30, 2025
Seton Hall Whistleblower Case Is Returned To Essex County

A New Jersey state trial court has moved a contentious whistleblower case between Seton Hall University and the school's former president back to Essex County after it was transferred to Hudson County to avoid a potential conflict of interest.
September 30, 2025
NJ County Says State Police Allowed Mall To Sell On Sundays

Bergen County, New Jersey, is arguing that the New Jersey State Police have ignored illegal retail sales on Sundays at the American Dream mall in East Rutherford despite maintaining a headquarters at the site, in a response to a local government's lawsuit over the practice.

Expert Analysis

Series

Adventure Photography Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Photographing nature everywhere from Siberia to Cuba and Iceland to Rwanda provides me with a constant reminder to refresh, refocus and rethink the legal issues that my clients face, says Richard Birmingham at Davis Wright.
5 Ways To Create Effective Mock Assignments For Associates

In order to effectively develop associates’ critical thinking skills, firms should design mock assignments that contain a few key ingredients, from messy fact patterns to actionable feedback, says Abdi Shayesteh at AltaClaro.
And Now A Word From The Panel: How MDLs Fared In 2024

A significant highlight of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation's practice during 2024 was the increase in the percentage of new MDL petitions granted by the panel, with 25 granted and only eight denied — one of the highest grant rates in years, says Alan Rothman at Sidley.
Recent Suits Show Antitrust Agencies' Focus On HSR Review

The U.S. Department of Justice's suit this month against KKR for inaccurate and incomplete premerger filings, along with other recent cases, highlights the agency's increasing scrutiny of Hart-Scott-Rodino Act compliance for private equity firms, say attorneys at Willkie.
Mentorship Resolutions For The New Year

Attorneys tend to focus on personal achievements or career milestones when they set yearly goals, but one important area often gets overlooked in this process — mentoring relationships, which are some of the most effective tools for professional growth, say Kelly Galligan at Rutan & Tucker and Andra Greene at Phillips ADR.
Trump's Energy Plans For Generation, Transmission And More

The executive orders and presidential memoranda issued by President Donald Trump on the day of his inauguration, unwinding the Biden administration's energy policies and encouraging development of fossil fuels, may have significant impacts on the generation mix, electric transmission construction and the state regulatory environment, say attorneys at Polsinelli.
Algorithm Price-Fixing Ruling May Lower Antitrust Claims Bar

A Washington federal court's refusal to dismiss Duffy v. Yardi Systems, an antitrust case over rent prices allegedly inflated by revenue management software, creates an apparent split in the lower courts over how to assess such claims, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
Series

Coaching Little League Makes Me A Better Lawyer

While coaching poorly played Little League Baseball early in the morning doesn't sound like a good time, I love it — and the experience has taught me valuable lessons about imperfection, compassion and acceptance that have helped me grow as a person and as a lawyer, says Alex Barnett at DiCello Levitt.
5 Litigation Funding Trends To Note In 2025

Lawyers and their clients must be prepared to navigate an evolving litigation funding market in 2025, made more complicated by a new administration and the increasing overall cost of litigation, says Jeffery Lula at GLS Capital.
Predicting Where State AGs Will Direct Their Attention In 2025

In 2025, we expect state attorneys general will navigate a new presidential administration while continuing to further regulate and police financial services, artificial intelligence, junk fees and antitrust, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
Rethinking Litigation Risk And What It Really Means To Win

Attorneys have a tendency to overestimate litigation risk before summary judgment and underestimate risk after it, but an eight-stage litigation framework can clarify risk at different points and help litigators reassess what true success looks like in any particular case, says Joshua Libling at Arcadia Finance.
Public Corruption Enforcement In 2024 Has Clues For 2025

If 2024 activity is any indication, the U.S. Supreme Court will likely continue to rein in expansive prosecutorial theories of fraud in the year to come, but it’s harder to predict what the new administration will mean for public corruption prosecutions in 2025, says Cathy Fleming at Offit Kurman.
Issues To Watch In 2025's ERISA Litigation Landscape

Whether 2024’s uptick in new Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases will continue this year will likely depend on federal courts’ resolution of several issues, including those related to excessive fees, defined contribution plan forfeitures, and pleading standards for ERISA-prohibited transaction claims, say attorneys at Groom Law.
Roundup

Banking Brief: State Law Recaps From Each Quarter Of 2024

In this Expert Analysis series, throughout 2024 attorneys provided quarterly recaps discussing the biggest developments in banking regulation, litigation and policymaking in various states, including New York, California and Illinois.
Series

Playing Rugby Makes Me A Better Lawyer

My experience playing rugby, including a near-fatal accident, has influenced my legal practice on a professional, organizational and personal level by showing me the importance of maintaining empathy, fostering team empowerment and embracing the art of preparation, says James Gillenwater at Greenberg Traurig.