Michael Booth

February 03, 2010 | New Jersey Law Journal

School officials in New Jersey don't need probable cause to search students' cars parked on campus, the state Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday. "Reasonable grounds" will do.

By Michael Booth

4 minute read

November 02, 2007 | New Jersey Law Journal

A lawyer arrested and held in contempt by a Bloomfield Municipal Court judge has filed a complaint against him with the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct, claiming he penalized her for raising a racial-profiling defense in her client's traffic-violation case.

By Michael Booth

2 minute read

February 29, 2000 | Law.com

New Jersey law firms that make lobbying a livelihood showed a 10 percent increase in lobbying revenue in 1999. Revenues in 1999 for the 10 top-grossing lawyer-lobbyist firms peaked at $5.4 million, compared with $4.89 million in 1998. The rise in income, though not as dramatic as the 30 percent hike from 1997 to 1998, is still a sign that government relations is a growing field in the state.

By Michael Booth

7 minute read

April 12, 2010 | Law.com

New Jersey's high court adopted a new, broader definition of the cleric-penitent privilege and used it to exclude from evidence a criminal defendant's inculpatory statements involving sexual abuse of a child to an acquaintance who was also a minister. The court ruled that the privilege applies if, given all the circumstances, an "objectively reasonable" person would believe that a communication was made in confidence to a cleric and in the cleric's professional character or role as a spiritual adviser.

By Michael Booth

5 minute read

November 07, 2005 | Law.com

The New Jersey Supreme Court heard arguments recently on whether indigent child support obligors who face jail for nonpayment are entitled to court-appointed counsel. Judging by their questions, the justices were already past the issue of whether -- and more interested in how -- to ensure representation. Plaintiffs lawyer David Perry Davis noted during argument that one such obligor was locked up for 73 days, a period that Justice Barry Albin found "outrageous."

By Michael Booth

4 minute read

August 12, 2002 | New Jersey Law Journal

Fresh from reaffirming the Mount Laurel II builder`s remedy as a weapon against exclusionary zoning, the state Supreme Court ruled last Monday that municipalities can`t make blanket use of development fees to exclude large tracts of vacant land from affordable housing.

By Michael Booth

7 minute read

April 09, 2009 | New Jersey Law Journal

To recover attorneys' fees and costs in a New Jersey condemnation case, it's not how you play the game: It's whether you win or lose. The state Supreme Court says that a property owner has a right to shift fees even if he gets to keep the property only because the condemning agency walked away.

By Michael Booth

5 minute read

August 09, 2004 | New Jersey Law Journal

Swimming pool makers and distributors are not protected by a New Jersey statute that generally requires suits against building contractors to be lodged within 10 years, the state Supreme Court rules.

By Michael Booth

3 minute read

September 23, 2003 | Law.com

New Jersey's Appellate Division has ruled that documents provided in discovery, even if they relate to product safety, are not accessible by the public if not part of a court file. The ruling came in a closely watched suit against Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., which was brought by the estates of two people killed in an accident allegedly caused by a faulty tire's blowout.

By Michael Booth

4 minute read

August 04, 2004 | Law.com

The general public does not have guaranteed access to discovery documents used in litigation if they have not been filed with the trial court, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled last week. The ruling is a setback for consumer groups that wanted to use the case as a way to allow the public to intervene in litigation and to ask courts to decide whether good cause exists to issue a protective order putting documents under seal, specifically in cases involving public hazards.

By Michael Booth

6 minute read