Historically and as a matter of public policy, public entities are immune from suit pursuant to the doctrine of “sovereign immunity.” The New Jersey Tort Claims Act, however, creates limited exceptions to sovereign immunity. People are therefore permitted to sue for injuries but must comply with the strict requirements of…
Because of the high level of public concern over New Jersey’s children, teaching is a highly regulated and scrutinized industry. Not only are teachers required to meet significantly high standards of education and training, and, in most cases, to have specialized knowledge in their field, but they must also maintain…
As our society has grown more complex, the government has been forced to take on more responsibilities. It created administrative agencies in the executive department, including for example, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Board of Public Utilities, the Merit System Board, the Department of Community Affairs, the Casino Control…
New Jersey has recently enacted the Security and Financial Empowerment Act (“SAFE Act“). This law requires many public and private employers to allow employees to take an unpaid leave of absence up to 20 days in any 12-month period if that employee or someone in the employee’s immediate family (child,…
Individuals are permitted to change their names as long as they have a permissible reason to do so. Obviously, a name change will not be approved if the purpose or effect of the change is fraudulent, such as avoiding creditors or criminal proceedings. The court can also deny an application…
A person may be a victim of defamation when another person has said something false about her. Defamation is a generic term for libel (a defamatory statement that is written) and slander (a defamatory statement which is spoken). The statement cannot be a joke or an expression of opinion; it…
Governor Chris Christie signed a new legislation, Bill A-2598/S-2588, establishing a diversionary program for “minor” offenders in New Jersey municipal court matters. This law will take effect in January 2014 allowing conditional dismissal of disorderly persons (criminal offenses with sentences of less than six months) and petty disorderly persons (criminal…
In years past, when parties had a dispute, they resolved it by filing a lawsuit. In the last decade, however, parties – and New Jersey’s courts – have increasingly resorted to alternative dispute resolution (often called “ADR”) instead of lawsuits. There are two main types of ADR, arbitration and mediation.…
The American Bar Association Task Force on Real Property Probate and Trust Law issued a report discussing the following shortcomings of drafting your own estate planning documents using the services of a “Do It Yourself” package. Some of those short comings are as follows. Things are often more complicated than…
Almost 29 million people over 16 years old had a disability. Of these, approximately 6,000,000, or 21 per cent, were in the labor force, compared with almost 150,000,000 million people without a disability, for a 68 per cent participation rate. Discrimination is prohibited under both New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination…