NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION PER CURIAM. Plaintiff Matthew Goodwin appeals from the summary judgment dismissal of his legal malpractice complaint against defendant Donahue Hagan Klein Newsome & O'Donnell. We affirm. The facts, viewed most favorably to plaintiff, Brill v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am. , 142 N.J. 520 , 523-24 (1995), are as follows. After filing his divorce complaint on October 31, 2006, plaintiff changed counsel and by written agreement...
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION PER CURIAM. In October 2003, Brendan Allen and Asnel Diaz Sanchez opened a business checking account in the name of Sanchez's corporation, ADS Associates Group, Inc. (ADS), at Oritani Savings Bank (Oritani or the Bank), where ADS had existing accounts. Shortly thereafter, without Allen's knowledge, Sanchez began transferring funds electronically from the new account to the other ADS accounts over which Allen had no control....
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION PER CURIAM. Plaintiff-mother appeals from a December 23, 2010 order denying her motion to enforce an alleged agreement that defendant-father would pay her $300 in child support. She contends that the judge misapplied the law and failed to consider evidence. We disagree and affirm. The parties have two children together. They attended a mediation session on April 13, 2010, and addressed defendant's child support obligations....
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION PER CURIAM. In this medical malpractice action, the trial court granted the unopposed motion of defendant, Saint Clare's Hospital, to dismiss the complaint of plaintiffs Khadija Alimjan a/k/a Khadija Nasir Alimjan, Arzu Alimjan, Omid Alimjan, and Javaid Alimjan because they did not file an affidavit of merit as required by N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-27. The trial court entered the dismissal order on January 21, 2011, and thereafter...
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION PER CURIAM. Defendant Michelle Pyne appeals from an order entered by the Law Division on January 3, 2011, which denied her petition for post-conviction relief (PCR). We affirm. On March 1, 2002, defendant was charged with driving while intoxicated (DWI), N.J.S.A. 39:4-50; and operating a motor vehicle while knowingly possessing a controlled dangerous substance (CDS), N.J.S.A. 39:4-49.1. Defendant also was charged with...
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION PER CURIAM. Defendant Felicia Dwight appeals from the Law Division's March 16, 2010 order denying her petition for post-conviction relief (PCR), which alleged ineffective assistance of trial counsel and requested an evidentiary hearing. We affirm. The record reflects that defendant was convicted by a jury of third-degree possession of cocaine, a controlled dangerous substance (CDS), N.J.S.A. 2C:35-10(a)(1) (count one);...
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION PER CURIAM. Plaintiff, Chaudhry Corporation, appeals from an August 10, 2010 order issued by the Chancery Division after a one-day bench trial. The order dismissed plaintiff's action for specific performance against defendant, the City of Newark ("the City"). The lawsuit sought to compel the City to convey to plaintiff real estate that it had contracted to purchase twelve years earlier. After hearing the proofs and finding...
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION PER CURIAM. The discrete issue in this appeal is whether the trial court erred in releasing funds to a third-party plaintiff who claimed ownership of the funds, which years earlier had been confiscated by authorities following the arrest of his son. In particular, appellant, the son's ex-wife, argues that the trial court should have instead imposed a constructive trust on the funds so as to secure her former spouse's future...
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION PER CURIAM. Plaintiff Jane Norcia appeals from the Law Division's order dismissing her verified complaint against defendant, High Point Insurance Company (High Point). Plaintiff sought to vacate or modify an earlier PIP arbitration award that denied her claim for full reimbursement of medical treatment following a motor vehicle accident on August 28, 2007. Plaintiff raises the following points on appeal: POINT I THE COURT...
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION PER CURIAM. On March 14, 2006, plaintiff Julian Ramsey tripped and fell on a sidewalk in the Borough of Lindenwold that adjoined property owned by Michael Polis and Theresa Howard. The sidewalk had been raised approximately three inches by the roots of a parkway tree in the area of plaintiff's fall. Ramsey filed suit against the homeowners and the Borough but, upon completion of discovery, summary judgment was granted to Polis...
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION PER CURIAM. This appeal addresses the issue of whether creation of a special needs trust can justify the elimination of the obligation to pay child support to the primary residential parent of a special needs child. We conclude that while a party may utilize a special needs trust to take advantage of government programs to lessen the burden on the parent to provide support and medical assistance, the facts of this case do not...
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION PER CURIAM. Plaintiff Mescall & Acosta (M&A), a law firm, appeals the order of the Law Division awarding it $900 in legal fees arising out of its representation of a client subsequently represented by defendants James J. Dunn and Levinson Axelrod, P.A. We remanded to the Law Division for supplementation of the judge's reasons for her decision. Having now considered the judge's supplemental opinion as well as the parties'...
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION PER CURIAM. Plaintiff, Millennium bcpbank, N.A. (Millennium), appeals from two Law Division orders: the July 23, 2010 order that denied Millennium's motion to have the court declare the entire controversy doctrine inapplicable to this action; and the September 22, 2010 order that granted summary judgment to First American Title Insurance Company (First American) based on the entire controversy doctrine. We reverse and remand....
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION PER CURIAM. The East Brunswick Board of Education (Board) appeals from the Commissioner of the Department of Education's (Commissioner) approval of the charter of Hatikvah International Academy Charter School (Hatikvah) commencing July 1, 2010. According to the Board, the Commissioner disregarded the Department of Education's (Department) regulations pertaining to the charter school application and approval process, contending,...
The opinion of the court was delivered by KOBLITZ, J.A.D. R.S., father of R.S. (fictitiously, Robin), appeals the April 30, 2010 order finding that he neglected eleven-year-old Robin by testing positive for cocaine and marijuana at two visits supervised by the Division of Youth and Family Services (Division). After reviewing the record in light of the contentions advanced on appeal, we are constrained to reverse. Robin was born in May 2000. R.S. is also the father of A.R., (fictitiously,...
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION PER CURIAM. Defendant G.S. appeals from an October 26, 2010 order of the Family Part denying his motion to vacate a twenty-four year-old domestic violence restraining order. He argues that the Family Part was mistaken in its evaluation of factors relevant to the merits of his motion. Our review of the record redirects us to a different but related question — whether an evidentiary hearing was necessary to rule on defendant's...
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION PER CURIAM. The Salem County College Board of Trustees (College or Board) notified one of its employees, respondent William Brown, that the Board had decided to "terminate [his] employment as Campus Operations Specialist" at the conclusion of the 2008-09 academic year. Arguing that the refusal of further employment was a disciplinary termination — in light of discipline the Board had imposed on him two months earlier — Brown,...
NOT FOR PUBLICATION PER CURIAM. Third-party defendant/fourth-party plaintiff Tamburro Brothers Construction Company (Tamburro), the general contractor on a project involving the design and construction of a water retention basin (the Basin or the project) at the Dr. Joyanne D. Miller Elementary School (the Miller School), appeals from the order for judgment entered on October 19, 2009 in the civil action brought by plaintiff Egg Harbor Board of Education (plaintiff or the Board) against...
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION PER CURIAM. This matter involves cross-appeals from a July 6, 2009 final judgment entered by Judge Travis L. Francis following a bench trial in which he determined that defendants Robert P. Perla, Robert L. Steiger, the two active partners in a real estate partnership, and defendant Heritage Partnership (Heritage) breached their fiduciary duties to a third inactive partner, plaintiff Orlando A. Munoz. The trial judge concluded...
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION PER CURIAM. In this appeal, we consider the enforceability of an anti-assignment clause in the stand-alone dental plans provided by defendant Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. In entering summary judgment in favor of Horizon, the trial judge rejected the argument of plaintiff New Jersey Dental Association that, in enacting N.J.S.A. 26:2S-6.1(c) in 2010, the Legislature expressed its approval of assignment of...
