- IN RE APPEAL OF THE NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION'S JUNE 1, 2020 ADOPTED AMENDMENTS, ETC. (NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION) (CONSOLIDATED) A-0307-20/A-0308-20 Appellate Aug. 3, 2023
- STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. DUANE S. HORNE (14-03-0466, MONMOUTH COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) A-3219-20 Appellate Aug. 3, 2023
- AILUN XIN VS. LI TAN (L-1523-20, MIDDLESEX COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (RECORD IMPOUNDED) A-2992-21 Appellate Aug. 3, 2023
- MUSCONETCONG WATERSHED ASSOCIATION VS. NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, ET AL. (NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION) A-2491-20 Appellate Aug. 3, 2023 Summary A-2491-20 On February 23, 2017, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a flood hazard area applicability determination (FHA Determination) to Hampton Farm, LLC (Hampton Farm). Shortly thereafter, appellant Musconetcong Watershed Association (MW Association) requested the DEP to conduct an adjudicatory hearing so it could challenge the FHA Determination. Four years later, on April 6, 2021, the DEP denied that request. MW Association timely appealed from the April 6, 2021 decision. It also sought leave to appeal from the February 23, 2017 FHA Determination, contending it had become final when the DEP denied MW Association's request for a hearing. On an interlocutory motion, a two-judge panel of the court denied leave. The court now reconsiders, reverses that interlocutory ruling, and grants leave to appeal. The court holds that the DEP's FHA Determination became a final agency decision subject to appeal when the DEP denied MW Association's request for an adjudicatory hearing to challenge the FHA Determination. At that time, all administrative remedies were exhausted. To address the DEP's four-year time delay in deciding MW Association's request for an adjudicatory hearing, the court holds that any party, including a third-party objector, has the right to petition the DEP to rule on a pending request for an adjudicatory hearing under N.J.A.C. 1:1-4.1(a). The DEP will then have thirty days from receipt of the petition to "inform all parties of its determination" regarding that request. N.J.A.C. 1:1-4.1(a). The court also holds that MW Association did not have a right to an adjudicatory hearing because no statute conferred that right to MW Association, which is a third-party objector, and MW Association did not have a particularized property interest warranting a hearing. Accordingly, the court affirms the April 6, 2021 final agency decision. Finally, because the court has reversed the ruling on the interlocutory motion, the DEP has two options concerning its FHA Determination. It can either (1) elect to address MW Association's challenges to its February 23, 2017 FHA Determination and a new briefing schedule will be issued; or (2) request a remand so it can expand and update the factual findings supporting its FHA Determination. Close
- Leander Williams v. New Jersey State Parole Board (087613) (Statewide) A-26-22 Supreme Aug. 3, 2023 Oral Argument A-26-22 A-26-22 Audio for A-26-22 Close Summary A-26-22 The Parole Board cannot mandate participation in an RTP for inmates administratively paroled under the EYWO Act. Although N.J.S.A. 30:4-123.59 generally authorizes the Parole Board to impose parole conditions on adult inmates who have been administratively released under the EYWO Act, an RTP is not among the conditions that can be imposed in that setting. Close
- STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. ROBERT J. FERRY (19-08-1739, ATLANTIC COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (RECORD IMPOUNDED) A-1860-21 Appellate Feb. 2, 2024
- ANGEL MENDEZ VS. BOARD OF TRUSTEES, ETC. (POLICE AND FIREMEN'S RETIREMENT SYSTEM) A-2891-21 Appellate Feb. 2, 2024
- STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. RAFAEL A. VASQUEZ (15-04-0046 AND 15-04-0047, BERGEN COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) A-3085-21 Appellate Feb. 2, 2024
- TOWERNORTH DEVELOPMENT, LLC, ET AL. VS. SHAMONG TOWNSHIP JOINT LAND USE BOARD, ET AL. (L-1222-21, BURLINGTON COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) A-3577-21 Appellate Feb. 2, 2024
- STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. RICHARD A. SAYAD (MA-09-22, HUDSON COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) A-0951-22 Appellate Feb. 2, 2024
- STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. LUIS RODRIGUEZ (11-01-0124, MONMOUTH COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (RECORD IMPOUNDED) A-1091-22 Appellate Feb. 2, 2024
- ROBERT STRAUSS VS. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE BOROUGH OF METUCHEN, ETC. (NEW JERSEY COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION) A-1492-22 Appellate Feb. 2, 2024
- IN THE MATTER OF THE REVOCATION OF G.G.'S FIREARMS PURCHASER IDENTIFICATION CARD, ETC. (GPR-0023-21, BERGEN COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) A-1626-21 Appellate Feb. 27, 2024
- J.R. VS. HORIZON NJ HEALTH (DIVISION OF MEDICAL ASSISTANCE AND HEALTH SERVICES) A-2028-21 Appellate Feb. 5, 2024
- MARCOS DE OLIVEIRA VS. AUTO SPORT OF NEWARK, CORP., ET AL. (L-2685-19, ESSEX COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) A-2841-21 Appellate Feb. 5, 2024
- STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. JESSICA E. PERRY (19-06-0966, OCEAN COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) A-4000-21 Appellate Feb. 5, 2024
- NORTH JERSEY HIP AND KNEE CENTER VS. JANET QUEVEDO (L-1905-21, PASSAIC COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) A-0485-22 Appellate Feb. 5, 2024
- STATE OF NEW JERSEY IN THE INTEREST OF M.P., A JUVENILE (FJ-07-1120-22, ESSEX COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (RECORD IMPOUNDED) A-3434-22 Appellate Feb. 5, 2024
- IN RE APPEAL OF THE NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION'S SEPTEMBER 6, 2022 DENIAL OF REQUEST FOR ADJUDICATORY HEARING, ETC. (NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION) A-0511-22 Appellate Feb. 5, 2024 Summary A-0511-22 In this appeal, the court considered whether a Remediation in Progress waiver (RIP waiver) issued by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) conveys a property interest to the recipient that is constitutionally protected by the right to due process. The court concluded it does not. The owner or operator of an industrial establishment is subject to the Industrial Site Recovery Act (ISRA) when they cease operations or transfer ownership or operation of the industrial establishment. N.J.S.A. 13:1K-9(a). Before doing so, the ISRA requires the owner or operator of an industrial establishment to remediate its industrial establishment and obtain a final remediation document. N.J.S.A. 13:1K-9(b). To expedite transfers and cessations of contaminated industrial sites, the ISRA permits alternatives to obtaining a final remediation document prior to the cessation of operations or transfer of property, including an RIP waiver. N.J.A.C. 7:26B‑5.4. An RIP waiver allows the owner or operator of an industrial establishment to apply to NJDEP to close or transfer ownership or operations, provided that the industrial establishment is already in the process of remediation and specific requirements are met. N.J.S.A. 13:1K‑11.5; N.J.A.C. 7:26B-5.4. An RIP waiver is contingent on remediation being in progress ; if remediation falls out of compliance, the RIP waiver applicant no longer qualifies for the suspension under N.J.S.A. 13:1K-11.5, and NJDEP may rescind the RIP waiver. Clarios, LLC, appealed from a decision by NJDEP to deny its request for an adjudicatory hearing concerning NJDEP's decision to rescind Clarios's RIP waiver for the premises at issue, 760 Jersey Avenue, New Brunswick. Clarios argued NJDEP's grant of the RIP waiver in 2007 created a property interest protected by a right to due process in that the RIP waiver operates like a license—well-recognized to be in the nature of a property right—that permits the receiving party to conduct certain activities and exempts it from obligations subject to the State's stipulations. The court rejected Clarios's assertion. The only benefit conferred by the RIP waiver is that the owner or operator may effect such close of operations or transfer of ownership prior to "obtaining departmental approval of a remedial action workplan or a negative declaration or without the approval of a remediation agreement." N.J.S.A. 13:1K‑11.5(a). The RIP waiver does not suspend the need to remediate the industrial establishment. It waives only the requirement to provide for remediation before the close of operations or the transfer of ownership. In addition, the regulation that provides for the issuance of RIP waivers explicitly limits the authority of the waiver to relieve the recipient of "the obligations to remediate the industrial establishment pursuant to ISRA . . . and any other applicable law." N.J.A.C. 7:26B-1.8(b). Close
- KENNETH HAGEL VS. KEVIN DAVENPORT, ET AL. (L-1532-14, MONMOUTH COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) A-3652-19 Appellate Feb. 6, 2024