A New Jersey school district can be held liable for the legal fees of a part-time school psychologist charged, and eventually cleared, of assaulting a recalcitrant student while helping remove him from a classroom, a state appeals court has ruled.

A two-judge Appellate Division panel in an unpublished ruling said that while the school psychologist, Kenneth Welsh, was not a full-time employee of the Hackettstown Board of Education, the board can be required to pay his counsel fees.

“We conclude that as a school psychologist … plaintiff held a position under Hackettstown's jurisdiction,” Appellate Division Judge Mitchel Ostrer wrote. “The critical point is that plaintiff served as a school psychologist in a Hackettstown school.”

Appellate Division Judge Jack Sabatino joined in the Oct. 19 ruling, which did not specify the amount of counsel fees in dispute.

According to the decision, Welsh was actually employed by the Warren County Special School District. As part of a memorandum of understanding, Welsh spent three days a week at the Hatchery Hill Elementary School in Hackettstown.

The decision said the incident involving the student occurred sometime between November 2013 and June 2014, but does not otherwise describe the facts behind the incident.

After Welsh was cleared of the charges, he demanded that the Warren special services district reimburse him for his legal expenses. After a series of cross-motions, according to the court, a Warren County trial judge said it was the Hackettstown school district that was responsible for those fees.

The Hackettstown school board appealed, arguing that, under N.J.S.A. 18A:16-A6, Welsh was not “holding any office, position or employment under [Hackettstown's] jurisdiction.”

“Hackettstown argues that if [Welsh] is entitled to reimbursement at all, Warren is liable,” Ostrer said. “We differ.”

Welsh maintained an office at Hatchery Hill, and was required to attend training sessions and meetings with other faculty and staff at the school, the panel noted.

“We are satisfied that even if [Welsh] were deemed to be an independent contractor and not an employee of either Warren or Hackettstown, he held a position under Hackettstown's  jurisdiction,” Ostrer said.

“As a professional, [Welsh] presumably controlled significant aspects of his practice; yet, the school imposed its own rules and regulations, and required [Welsh] to participate in its training programs for handling out-of-control students,” Ostrer said.

Although Welsh filed the original complaint after being denied counsel fees, he did not participate in the appeal, the court noted.

Hackettstown retained Mark Toscano of the Comegno Law Group in Moorestown. The Warren school district retained Howard Nirenberg of Nirenberg & Varano in Hackensack. Neither returned calls seeking comment.