Englewood Hospital & Medical Center v. State, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). New Jersey has had a charity care program, in one form or another, for 178 years. As Justice Fasciale summarized the current charity care program in his opinion for a unanimous Supreme Court, under the current program "hospitals cannot turn away a patient for inability to pay, N.J.S.A. 26:2H-18.64, and patients who qualify for charity care shall not be billed for services rendered, N.J.A.C. 10:52-11.4. Instead, ‘disproportionate share hospitals' (DSHs), or hospitals that serve a disproportionate number of low-income patients, see N.J.S.A. 26:2H-18.52, receive annual subsidies from the Health Care Subsidy Fund (HCSF) in exchange for providing charity care, see N.J.S.A. 26:2H-18.52, .58, .58d."...

On this date in 1952, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Savarese v. Pyrene Manufacturing Co., 9 N.J. 595 (1952). Justice Wachenfeld's decision for a 5-0 Court remains the leading authority on whether and when employment contracts for life are enforceable....

On this date in 1992, the Supreme Court decided Sica v. Wall Township Board of Adjustment, 127 N.J. 152 (1992). [Disclosure: I argued this case for the successful plaintiff]. Justice Pollock's opinion for a unanimous Court addressed a question that arose out of Medici v. BPR Co., 107 N.J. 1 (1987). There, the Court held that a use variance applicant must satisfy an enhanced standard of proof that the variance is not inconsistent with the intent of the master plan and zoning ordinances. The question in Sica was whether that enhanced standard applied to inherently beneficial uses. The Court said that it did not....

On this date in 2004, the Supreme Court decided Smith v. SBC Communications, Inc., 178 N.J. 265 (2004). The case was a putative Consumer Fraud Act ("CFA") and breach of contract class action against Southern New England Telephone Company ("SNET") and BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc. Plaintiff alleged that defendants falsely advertised that prepaid calling cards purchased at BJ's would yield substantially more calling time than plaintiff actually received....

On December 4, 1973, the Supreme Court decided Mayflower Sec. Co. v. Bureau of Securities, 64 N.J. 85 (1973). The Bureau of Securities had suspended the registration of Mayflower, a...

It's likely that few of us think much about interment and disinterment of the deceased except when death visits our families or friends. But on this date in 2009, the...

Justice James H. Coleman, Jr., the first Black Justice to sit on the Supreme Court of New Jersey, died on August 5 at age 91. This post is very late,...

Verizon New Jersey, Inc. v. Borough of Hopewell, 258 N.J. 255 (2024). This 6-0 per curiam opinion (Justice Fasciale did not participate) affirmed a 78-page opinion by Judge Accurso at...

Arias v. County of Bergen, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2024). This was a personal injury case. Plaintiff fell in a hole and sustained injuries while rollerblading on a...

The month of June has, to date, seen just one published opinion by the Appellate Division (discussed here), and none by the Supreme Court. That dry spell will likely end...