New Jersey

Defendant’s ‘disturbing’ rap lyrics should not have been admitted at trial, NJ high court says

The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that violent rap lyrics should not have been admitted in the attempted murder trial of Vonte Skinner, who was accused of shooting a fellow drug dealer seven times. The court affirmed the reversal of Skinner’s conviction in an opinion (PDF) released on Tuesday,…

Aug 4, 2014 6:49 PM CDT

Paralegal’s suit claims law firm should have paid for overtime

A paralegal has filed a lawsuit claiming that his employer, a New Jersey law firm, failed to pay time-and-a-half for overtime as required by federal law. The suit by Jason Barros was filed on behalf of five paralegals working at Pasricha & Patel of Edison, N.J., along with former paralegals…

Jul 17, 2014 3:48 PM CDT

Five months after fire, lawyers are back at work in rehabbed office; arson case is ongoing

More than five months after a fire that authorities say was set by arsonists swept through a New Jersey law firm, its attorneys are back at work in their original Vineland location. Final touches on the renovation that followed the Jan. 28 fire are still being completed, but Helmer, Coney…

Jul 11, 2014 5:35 PM CDT

Solo claims two law firms stole his website content, harming his Google search-result position

A solo practitioner from New Jersey claims in a lawsuit that content from his website ended up on the websites of two other law firms, harming his position in Google search results. The suit by lawyer Thomas Blauvelt says the purloined website information included computer code and Blauvelt’s own name,…

Jul 2, 2014 10:44 AM CDT

2 men who say they discarded $1M winning Powerball ticket sue lottery commission

Two New York men say they purchased a Powerball ticket in New Jersey that matched five of six numbers in the March 23, 2013 lottery drawing. But they didn’t realize their good fortune—the ticket was worth $1 million—until the next day, after discarding it, the New York Daily News reports.…

Jun 26, 2014 10:00 PM CDT

NJ man is accused of conning foreign nation into paying $3.5M to sham law firm

A New Jersey man was arrested on Thursday and charged with conning a foreign nation into paying $3.5 million to a phony law and accounting firm called Opus & Best Services. Bobby Boye, 50, of Franklin Lakes, was arrested as he arrived at Newark International Airport from a trip abroad,…

Jun 20, 2014 12:47 PM CDT

Sprung from zoo by DNA test, hybrid bobcat exits home pen; owner now faces new court date

Questions about whether a 38-pound pet was a hybrid bobcat, as his owner claims, or an illegal purebred weren’t resolved by an inconclusive DNA test. So a municipal judge in Stafford, New Jersey, allowed Rocky to return to his owner from the Popcorn Park Zoo last month, but fined her…

Jun 5, 2014 10:05 PM CDT

Job offers lured men to NJ town where threats and violence procured religious divorces, feds say

Those involved in bitter disputes over the granting of a divorce recognized by Jewish religious law might want to consider steering clear of one town in New Jersey. Federal charges in two separate criminal cases in Trenton allege that job offers in Lakewood were used to lure two out-of-state victims.…

May 16, 2014 6:50 PM CDT

Suit asks NJ school district to remove ‘under God’ from pledge of allegiance

A New Jersey school district is being sued over the inclusion of the phrase “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. The suit, filed last month in Monmouth County Superior Court, was announced Monday by the American Humanist Association, the Asbury Park Press and the Huffington Post report. The group…

Apr 22, 2014 11:33 PM CDT

Woman says in lawsuit that she was denied personalized atheist license plate

A New Jersey woman is suing the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission, asserting that it refused to issue her the personalized license plate “8THEIST.” Shannon Morgan’s lawsuit, filed recently in federal court, contends that the alleged refusal violates her First Amendment rights, the Newark Star-Ledger reports. “There is nothing offensive about…

Apr 21, 2014 9:41 PM CDT

Law firm’s revised debt-collection letter results in $49.5K settlement of federal class action

A New Jersey law firm and a co-defendant have agreed to pay, and a federal judge on Tuesday approved, a $49,500 class action settlement over the language Mattleman, Weinroth & Miller used in a collection letter. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act specifies what must be said in the so-called…

Apr 17, 2014 3:10 PM CDT

Is bobcat a wild animal or a hybrid? DNA test will determine if NJ woman can keep her pet

A New Jersey woman got a municipal license for her pet bobcat by claiming he was a hybrid. But officials are now dubious that Ginny Fine was right, and a judge has ordered that Rocky be held at a local zoo while results of a DNA test are being awaited,…

Apr 14, 2014 8:55 PM CDT

3rd Circuit frees email hacker ‘weev’; says feds tried and convicted him in wrong venue

The controversial conviction of an email hacker has been vacated by a federal appeals court, not because of issues with the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act but because Andrew Auernheimer was tried and convicted in the wrong venue. Known as “weev,” Auernheimer was released on Friday from a federal prison…

Apr 14, 2014 8:00 PM CDT

2nd Circuit asks top NY court to explain minimum needed to satisfy in-state law office requirement

In the latest development in a New Jersey attorney’s challenge to a New York law requiring the state’s practitioners to maintain law offices there, a federal appeals court has asked New York state’s top court for input. Specifically, the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is asking the…

Apr 10, 2014 9:30 PM CDT

Judge’s employee nicknames were discourteous and undignified, ethics complaint alleges

An ethics complaint says a New Jersey judge demonstrated discourteous and undignified behavior when he referred to court personnel by nicknames. According to the April 1 complaint (PDF), Judge Gerald Council of Mercer County called a senior probation officer “my little pet” and referred to a drug court coordinator as…

Apr 10, 2014 3:58 PM CDT