Gibbons Law Alert

Gibbons Law Alert

Author: Gibbons P.C.

Gibbons Government & Regulatory Affairs Department Director Christine Stearns Featured on ROI-NJ’s Third Annual “Influencers Power List”

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Posted in Healthcare

On March 3, 2020

ROI-NJ, a weekly newspaper covering business in New Jersey, has named Christine A. Stearns, a Director in the Gibbons P.C. Government & Regulatory Affairs Department and Administrative Director of the Trenton office, to its third annual “Influencers Power List” of the professionals with the greatest influence on business in the state. The list ranks New Jersey’s top 30 influencers by number, then features a select group of influential professionals in various fields. Gibbons attorneys have been featured on this list every year it has been published. The firm also has more attorneys on the 2020 list than does any other law firm in New Jersey. Ms. Stearns appears on the list of most influential “Government Affairs” professionals for the second consecutive year. Previously selected to the NJBIZ “Health Care Power List” for several years and included on NJ Spotlight’s list of “Top 10 Healthcare Lobbyists in New Jersey,” Ms. Stearns has also been named a “Top Policy Expert” on the ROI-NJ “Health Care Influencers” list in 2018 and 2019. On this year’s “Influencers Power List,” ROI-NJ notes: Yet another big name with plenty of experience in Trenton and government affairs, she deftly handles the needs of clients at Gibbons, one of the top government affairs groups in the state. To compile the “Influencers Power List,”...

Gibbons Chairman and Managing Director & CCL Department Member Featured on ROI-NJ’s Third Annual “Influencers Power List

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Posted in General Litigation

On March 3, 2020

ROI-NJ, a weekly newspaper covering business in New Jersey, has named Patrick C. Dunican Jr., Chairman and Managing Director of Gibbons P.C. and a member of the firm’s Commercial & Criminal Litigation Department, to its third annual “Influencers Power List” of the professionals with the greatest influence on business in the state. The list ranks New Jersey’s top 30 influencers by number, then features a select group of influential professionals in various fields. Gibbons attorneys have been featured on this list every year it has been published. The firm also has more attorneys on the 2020 list than does any other law firm in New Jersey. Mr. Dunican is one of 19 people on the “Lawyers” list. The publication notes: Oversees what many feel is the state’s most powerful firm. Client list is a who’s who of business and political leaders. Dunican’s deft handling makes him one of the most respected leaders in the sector. Mr. Dunican has been featured on this list every year it has been published. He is also consistently ranked on the PolitickerNJ “Power List” of the 100 most prominent and connected people in New Jersey politics and has been named for ten consecutive years among the NJBIZ “Power 100” list of the most powerful people in New Jersey business. To...

NJBIZ Lists Patrick Dunican and Jennifer Phillips Smith Among Its 2020 “Power 100”

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Posted in General Litigation / Real Estate

On February 21, 2020

For the tenth consecutive year, NJBIZ has featured attorneys from Gibbons P.C. on its annual “Power 100” list of the most influential people in New Jersey business. Patrick C. Dunican Jr., the firm’s Chairman and Managing Director, is one of a select few people to be named to this list every year it has been published, while Jennifer Phillips Smith, a Director in the firm’s Real Property Department, makes her debut on the 2020 list. This year, NJBIZ notes of Mr. Dunican: The influence of Gibbons PC, one of the state’s biggest law firms, grew this year with the addition of an office in Red Bank. The 94-year-old Newark firm, which has a Trenton outpost that opened in 2002, expanded to Red Bank because it’s a linchpin of Monmouth County and home to some of its most significant clients—nearly half of the county’s top 10 employers are Gibbons clients. Patrick Dunican has been at the helm since 2004 and his business influence extends internationally: he was recognized in August for promoting business ties between New Jersey and Ireland by Donegal County Council with the 2019 Tip O’Neill Irish Diaspora Award. From 2017 to 2018, exports from the Garden State to Ireland increased 14.3 percent. Of Ms. Phillips Smith, NJBIZ notes: As a director at Gibbons...

New Jersey Call Center Jobs Act: Potential Headaches for Employers

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Posted in Labor

On February 14, 2020

On January 21, 2020, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed into law the New Jersey Call Center Jobs Act (“Act”). A copy of the Act may be found here. The new law, designed to provide protection to call center employees in the State, includes strict notice requirements along with penalties for New Jersey employers relocating a call center overseas, or transferring call center operations out of state. Under the Act, New Jersey call centers that employ at least 50 full-time employees or at least 50 workers who in the aggregate work 1,500 or more hours per week (excluding overtime) must maintain staffing levels capable of handling at least 65% of the employer’s customer volume of telephone calls, emails, or “other electronic communications” (“customer communications”) when measured against the previous six month average volume of communications originating from New Jersey callers or locations. If a call center’s staffing level falls below the required minimum levels, the employer must immediately notify the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development (“Commissioner”). In addition, any employer that relocates a call center, or transfers one or more of its operations comprising at least 20% of the call center’s total volume of customer communications as measured against the previous 12 month average volume to a foreign country, must notify the Commissioner 90 days...

New Jersey Amends Its WARN Act to Extend Advance Notice and Require Severance Pay

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Posted in Reductions in Force

On February 3, 2020

The New Jersey “Millville Dallas Airmotive Plant Job Loss Notification Act” (“NJ WARN Act” or “Act”), which requires covered employers to provide employees (and designated state and local government officials) with advance notice of covered “mass layoffs,” the shutdown of an establishment, or transfers of operations, was recently amended to place more onerous obligations on New Jersey employers. Senate Bill 3170, which becomes effective July 19, 2020, requires employers to provide 90 days’ (instead of 60 days’) notice to affected employees. The Act also contains enhanced severance provisions, requiring employers to pay severance to all affected employees, even those who receive proper notice under the Act. As a preliminary matter, many of the NJ WARN Act’s definitions have been amended, greatly expanding the Act’s reach. For example, “employer” is now more broadly defined to include “any individual, partnership, association, corporation, or any person or group of persons acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee, and includes any person who, directly or indirectly, owns and operates the nominal employer, or owns a corporate subsidiary that, directly or indirectly, owns and operates the nominal employer or makes the decision responsible for the employment action that gives rise to a mass layoff subject to notification.” Under this expanded definition, the...

Governor Murphy Continues to Develop Climate Change Resiliency Strategy for New Jersey

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Posted in Development/Redevelopment

On February 3, 2020

Building on his vision to develop a Statewide Climate Change Resiliency Strategy launched last year by signing Executive Order 89, on January 27, 2020, Governor Murphy signed Executive Order 100 (EO 100), which the Governor’s office described in a press release as directing the “most sweeping set of climate change reforms in the nation.” The EO labels the reforms as the “Protecting Against Climate Threats” regulations, or “PACT.” EO 100 references the State’s Global Warming Response Act (“GWRA”), N.J.S.A. 26:2C-37, et seq., and the updated Energy Master Plan, which outlines seven “key strategies and includes an implementation plan that lays out next steps and timelines.” The seven key strategies are: 1) reducing energy consumption and emissions from the transportation sector; 2) accelerating deployment of renewable energy and distributed energy resources; 3) maximizing energy efficiency and conservation, and reducing peak demand; 4) reducing energy consumption and emissions from the building sector; 5) decarbonizing and modernizing New Jersey’s energy systems; 6) supporting community energy planning and action in underserved communities; and, 7) expanding the clean energy innovation economy. It is in furtherance of these “key strategies” that EO 100 directs DEP to draft and implement “the sweeping suite of climate change regulations.” Most prominently, these regulations will include the establishment of a greenhouse gas monitoring and reporting...

Ninth Circuit Reverses Fee Award in DTSA Case

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Posted in Trade Secrets

On January 10, 2020

The Ninth Circuit recently added to the small body of appellate court precedent interpreting the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA), reversing an attorney fee award which had been granted by a district court in Washington. The reversal stemmed from the appellate court’s de novo determination that no circumstances existed to support a finding that the suit was brought and maintained in bad faith. In RJB Wholesale, Inc. v. Castleberry, the plaintiff sued a former sales representative for violation of the DTSA, claiming misappropriation of a customer list and company cell phone programmed with customer contact information. After the close of discovery, the defendant moved for summary judgment that the plaintiff had not proven any damages caused by the alleged misappropriation. The district court granted the motion, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed. The Ninth Circuit reversed, however, the district court’s fee award to the prevailing defendant. The decision follows on the heels of a decision from the Fourth Circuit, Akira Technologies, Inc. v. Conceptant, Inc., affirming the denial of attorney fees where the plaintiff “had at least some chance of success” on its DTSA claim and the Fifth Circuit in Dunster Live, LLC v. Lonestar Logos Mgmt. Co., LLC, where the court held fees were properly denied because a dismissal without prejudice did not render defendants...

New Jersey Appellate Division Clarifies Spill Fund Lien Law & Procedure

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Posted in Environmental and Green Issues

On November 21, 2019

In an unpublished opinion captioned In Re Spill Fund Lien, DJ No. 129570-02; 954 Route 202, the Appellate Division affirmed the final agency decision of the Spill Compensation Fund (Fund) holding that the lien filed against the property and revenues to recover remediation costs that the Fund expended in cleanup was appropriate under the New Jersey Spill Act (Spill Act). The property owner, Branch 2002 LLC (Branch), had purchased a gas station from a previous owner who was ordered by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to conduct a remedial investigation and remove or treat contaminated soil from leaking underground storage tanks at the property. Ultimately, the previous owner did not conduct the required remediation, so the NJDEP oversaw remediation of the property using Fund resources. The property was later sold to Branch, with the prior owner’s insurance company indemnifying all subsequent owners for any liability arising out of the prior owner’s discharge. The Fund Administrator filed the initial lien on the property for expenditures and commitments incurred by the Fund in 2002, and then later amended this lien in 2015 to reflect additional costs expended and requested that the Superior Court Clerk enter the addresses of both the previous owner and Branch in the record of docketed judgments. The NJDEP sought reimbursement...

Federal Court Denies Order to Show Cause with Temporary Restraints in Recent Defend Trade Secrets Act Case

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Posted in Trade Secrets

On November 20, 2019

A recent federal trade secret decision may spur employers to conduct forensic analyses of the computers of departing executives either before or immediately after their departures. In McKinsey & Co., Inc. v. Shi, a consulting firm sued a former senior partner asserting violation of the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA), among other claims. McKinsey alleged that the defendant misappropriated confidential McKinsey and client documents over the thirteen week period preceding his last day of work. Shi had worked at McKinsey or one of its affiliates for ten years before he began working for a competitor three days after his departure. In an unusual fact pattern for DTSA cases, before McKinsey’s federal lawsuit was filed, the former employee had sued McKinsey in state court, alleging his entitlement to almost $1 million in discretionary compensation and asserting claims for fraud, misrepresentation, and breach of contract, among other claims. In the process of reviewing documents for discovery in the state court action, McKinsey allegedly discovered the misappropriation. It then filed a verified complaint in New Jersey federal court with an order to show cause for temporary restraints and request for expedited discovery. The court declined to enter the order to show cause, but did order expedited discovery. Judge Shipp reasoned that although loss of a trade secret...

Gibbons Real Property Department Attorney Publishes in New Jersey Law Journal

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Posted in Real Estate

On November 15, 2019

Cameron W. MacLeod, an Associate in the firm’s Real Property Department, authored an article, “Finding the Outer Edges of ‘Good Faith’ in ‘Mt. Laurel’ Litigation” in this week’s New Jersey Law Journal. An excerpt from the article can be found below. To view the full article, click here. In 2015, the court directed that municipalities revise their housing elements and fair share plans “with good faith” and with “reasonable speed.” In re: N.J.A.C. 5:96 & 5:97, 221 N.J. 1, 33 (2015). Now, four and a half years later, the question of what constitutes “good faith” in these constitutional compliance cases is paramount, as the trial courts are now faced with whether a municipality’s housing element and fair share plan are consistent with the Mount Laurel obligations. The recent trial court decision in In re Englewood Cliffs, as well as the 2016 decision from Judge Wolfson in In the Matter of the Application of South Brunswick, both demonstrate what steps are necessary to establish “good faith” in these cases. Of the 300-plus declaratory judgment actions commenced in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in In re: N.J.A.C. 5:96 & 5:97, 221 N.J. 1 (2015), many have now settled, or are in the process of settling. The result of this process will be measured by the...

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