New Jersey Appellate Division

New Jersey Appeals Court Rules Lesbian Co-Parent May Seek “Bystander” Emotional Distress Compensation for Death of Child She was Raising With Her Same-Sex Partner

 

The New Jersey Appellate Division, the state’s intermediate appeals court, issued an important decision on August 17 expanding the range of “bystanders” to whom negligent actors may have liability for causing emotional distress to include non-marital same-sex families. A unanimous three-judge panel, taking account of the momentous developments in public attitudes about LGBT families over the past 38 years, ruled in Moreland v. Parks, 2018 WL 3945312, 2018 N.J. Super. LEXIS 120, that the … <Read More>

New Jersey Appellate Division Defines Standard for Hostile Environment Claim by Transgender Detainee Against Police Officers

The New Jersey Appellate Division rejected a municipality’s contention that the standard for determining a hostile environment for employment discrimination purposes should be the same as the standard for determining a hostile environment claim in the context of public accommodations, particularly when the accommodation at issue is the county jail and the alleged harassers are police officers dealing with a transgender arrestee. Holmes v. Jersey City Police Department, 2017 WL 1507189 (April 27, 2017).

Plaintiff … <Read More>

N.J. Appellate Division Reverses Convictions of Dharun Ravi

The New Jersey Appellate Division, an intermediate appeals court, threw out a state court jury’s conviction of Dharun Ravi on fifteen different criminal counts, finding that trial evidence about how Ravi’s actions in September 2010 adversely affected his college dormitory roommate, Tyler Clementi, had tainted all the verdicts in the case because it may have caused the jury to convict Ravi based on the victim’s belief rather than the defendant’s intent. Five of the convictions … <Read More>