New Jersey municipalities should be aware of an important U.S. Supreme Court decision addressing the expanded free speech rights of public employees. In Lane v. Franks, a unanimous Court held that the First Amendment protected a public employee when he testified truthfully about fraud in the work place pursuant to
The New Jersey Tax Court recently considered whether the New Jersey Turnpike Authority should be considered an alter ego of the State for the purposes of N.J.S.A. 54:4-23.8, which provides an exemption for roll-back taxes if lands are acquired by, among others, a local government unit for “recreation and conservation
The Appellate Division recently provided further guidance regarding when quasi-public agencies are subject to the New Jersey Open Public Records Act (OPRA). In Kennedy v. Montclair Center Corporation Business Improvement District, the court held that the corporation responsible for managing Montclair’s business improvement district is subject to OPRA. The Facts
New Jersey municipalities should be aware of a key privacy decision issued by the U.S. Supreme Court late last month. The Court held that police officers must obtain a search warrant prior to reviewing a suspect’s cell phone, even if the search is incident to an arrest. In the digital
The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently issued a precedential wage and hour decision that will impact how New Jersey municipalities pay their police and fire personnel. In Rosano v. Township of Teaneck, the court held that the municipality properly applied the Sec. 207(k) partial overtime exemption under
The Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court recently considered an issue previously decided by the Government Records Council: do the identities of pet owners fall under the privacy exception of the Open Public Records Act (OPRA)? In Bolkin v. Borough of Fairlawn, the short answer was no. However,
A New Jersey federal judge recently ruled that the borough of Paramus’s zoning board improperly denied Sprint Spectrum L.P. and T-Mobile USA Inc.’s application to build a wireless tower. U.S. District Judge Kevin McNulty specifically held that the municipality could not deny the application for a monopole wireless tower based
A California superior court judge made headlines earlier this month when he struck down several of the state’s teacher tenure laws as unconstitutional. Vegara v. California found that the state’s tenure laws deprived students of their right to education as guaranteed by the State constitution and violated their civil
