In Woytas v. Greenwood Tree Experts, Inc., the New Jersey Supreme Court will be asked to decide a question that the Appellate Division noted was “an issue of first impression in New Jersey,” i.e. whether the decedent, by committing suicide, breached the marital settlement agreement that required him to maintain life insurance in favor of his ex-wife and three dependent children.

Questions of first impression are intellectually stimulating for judges and lawyers, but usually spell surprise and disappointment for clients who are at the losing end when the novel issue is resolved. This case may present an object lesson for lawyers that, whenever possible, they should try to avoid novel legal questions in favor of predictable ones.

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