Gibbons Law Alert

Accessing an Adversary’s Public Social Networking Information — N.Y. Professional Ethics Opinion 843

Posted in Litigation Preparedness and Strategies

On October 25, 2010

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and MySpace are among the top social media websites that have culturally transformed electronic communications and social interactions. Inevitably, these platforms have also affected litigation practice and present myriad ethical dilemmas. One such dilemma is whether an attorney can access an adverse party’s social networking website to obtain information about the party, including impeachment material.

Inside NJDEP: Agency Releases “Transformation Plan,” Posts Employee Complaints and Suggestions

by Paul M. Hauge

Posted in Environmental and Green Issues

On October 22, 2010

How can the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) be improved? The agency released two different perspectives on that question over the past few weeks: a “top-down” view in the form of a “Transformation Plan” for reforming NJDEP, and a “bottom-up” view in the form of a compilation of hundreds of complaints and suggestions from NJDEP employees.

Southern District of New York Denies Request for Advance Notice of an at Risk Launch

by Gibbons P.C.

Posted in Patent / Pharmaceuticals

On October 21, 2010

Recently, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that a generic drug manufacturer may not be required to provide advance notice to the innovator of their intent to launch at-risk a competing product. This decision is noteworthy in that it contrasts with the practice in the District Court of New Jersey where at least one generic company has been ordered to provide advance notice to the brand companies of an impending at-risk launch.

NJ Courts Allow Internet Usage in Court

by Gibbons P.C.

Posted in E-Discovery: Legal Decisions and Court Rules

On October 18, 2010

Imagine you are in a New Jersey courtroom and have begun the jury selection process. When presented with one of the prospective jurors, you think that you have read about him or her in a recent article. As a result, you open your laptop and begin to surf the Internet to research the individual, but your adversary objects, stating that he or she does not have a computer. Will the judge rule in your favor? The answer is “yes” based upon the Appellate Division’s recent opinion in Carino v. Muenzen, 2010 N.J. Super Unpub. LEXIS 2154 (App. Div. Aug. 30, 2010).

Time is Running Out to Renew Expired New Jersey Liquor Licenses

by Howard D. Geneslaw

Posted in Liquor Licensing

On October 18, 2010

The time period to renew an expired New Jersey alcoholic beverage license is rapidly coming to a close and will end on November 8, 2010. Under a provision of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, N.J.S.A. 33:1-1 et seq., enacted earlier this year, a person holding an expired license, which was not renewed within the five years prior to May 6, 2010, may file for renewal of that license provided that (i) the applicant pay all renewal fees for the years in which timely renewals were not filed, and (ii) the applicant’s failure to apply for a renewal during that period was due to circumstances beyond his control or due to other extraordinary circumstances.

NY Landlord May Use “Self Help” to Evict

by Shepard A. Federgreen

Posted in Transactional Real Estate and Leasing

On October 15, 2010

The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Term has just reaffirmed that a landlord, under certain circumstances, may evict a tenant utilizing classic “self help” and without court action. In Sol De Ibiza, LLC v Panjo Realty, Inc. the landlord, after the tenant failed to comply with various rent demands, padlocked the door – which padlock the tenant then cut off – and which the landlord then replaced.

In Rare Application of Waiver Doctrine, Federal Court Holds That New Jersey Gave Up Right to Seek Natural Resource Damages at Contaminated Site

by Paul M. Hauge

Posted in Environmental and Green Issues

On October 13, 2010

It is difficult for a defendant to avoid a claim by invoking the doctrine of waiver, which requires proof of a clear, unequivocal act showing that the plaintiff deliberately intended to relinquish a known legal right. It is doubly difficult when the plaintiff is the State of New Jersey, against which the application of the doctrine is, in the words of a leading Supreme Court case, to be “most strictly limited.”

Solar Energy Development in New Jersey: Right Time, Right Place!

by Douglas J. Janacek

Posted in Development/Redevelopment / Environmental and Green Issues / Transactional Real Estate and Leasing

On October 12, 2010

All of us are intrigued by the concept of utilizing a clean, renewable energy source to generate abundant and cheap power for our homes and businesses. Some of us have even investigated installing a renewable energy system, but have come away disappointed due to onerous regulatory obstacles and the high cost associated with these installations. That is, unless you are looking into installing a solar energy power facility in New Jersey.

“Private” Facebook and MySpace Postings are Discoverable

by Gibbons P.C.

Posted in E-Discovery: Legal Decisions and Court Rules

On October 11, 2010

A New York trial court has ordered a personal injury plaintiff to produce her Facebook and MySpace postings, notwithstanding that plaintiff self-designated them as private. Justice Jeffrey Arlen Spinner, in Romano v. Steelcase Inc., 2010 N.Y. Slip Op. 20388, 2010 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 4538 (N.Y. Sup. Ct., Suffolk Cty. Sept. 21, 2010), reasoned that New York’s “liberal discovery policies” favored allowing access to posts that might undermine plaintiff’s claim for loss of enjoyment of life and further that, “as neither Facebook nor MySpace guarantee complete privacy, Plaintiff has no legitimate reasonable expectation of privacy.”

It Wasn’t Yours to Begin With: New Jersey Supreme Court Holds That City Need Not Compensate Beachfront Condemnee for Land Created by Beach Replenishment Project

by Paul M. Hauge and Jennifer P. Smith

Posted in Environmental and Green Issues / Transactional Real Estate and Leasing

On October 8, 2010

As discussed in a recent post, beaches have a way of generating difficult cases about when land-use regulations result in a compensable “taking” of property. A new opinion from the New Jersey Supreme Court reminds us that things can be just as complicated when the government takes beachfront property the old-fashioned way, via eminent domain.