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Independent Contractors
November 15, 2019Update on S4204 Independent Contractor Legislation: Yesterday the Senate Labor Committee released Senate Bill 4204, legislation that effectively prohibits the use of independent contractors in New Jersey. The bill is sponsored by Senate President Steve Sweeney. NJCJI testified against the legislation, arguing that the independent contractor model not only serves an important economic function, it More »
Read More »Independent Contractor Alert!
November 8, 2019Legislation that would effectively ban most independent contractor relationships has been introduced by Senate President Sweeney and is scheduled to be considered in Senate Labor Committee next Thursday, November 14. The legislation is modeled on the high-profile legislation recently enacted in California – AB5 – which requires independent contractors to meet an even more restrictive More »
Read More »Arbitration Invalidated Again
November 1, 2019An Appellate Division panel decided Ricciardi v. Abingdon Care Rehabilitation Center. The two-judge panel – Judges Alvarez and Suter – upheld the lower court’s decision to invalidate an arbitration agreement. The court’s decision follows the now-familiar two-step process. It begins with the recitation of language favoring arbitration. The court is “mindful of the strong preference More »
Read More »AG Hostility to Arbitration
October 25, 2019The Star Ledger can be forgiven for its misleading description of the arbitration element in consent decree reached between NJ Division of Consumer Affairs and solar panel company Vivent Solar. We were a bit surprised to see an agreement “that it will go to arbitration to resolve future disputes” described as a concession extracted by More »
Read More »Protected: Fall Policy Forum CLE Materials
October 3, 2019There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Read More »Does Atalese Apply to All Contracts? Appellate Courts at Odds.
September 27, 2019Contributed by: Shalom D. Stone, Managing Partner at Stone Conroy LLC in Florham Park. Please email Shalom Stone or Alida Kass if you would like more information. Five years ago this week, the Supreme Court of New Jersey held in Atalese that arbitration agreements — or at least some arbitration agreements — are unenforceable unless More »
Read More »New Jersey’s War on Independent Contractors: Criminal and Civil Penalties for Independent Contractor Misclassification Signed into Law
September 12, 2019Legislation targeting independent contractors has been signed into law by Governor Phil Murphy. Although sold as legislation addressing “wage theft”- simplefailure to pay agreed-upon lawful wages – the legislation was designed to deter the use of independent contractors. This legislation criminalizes misclassification and other wage and hour violations – 3-5 years in jail – including good More »
Read More »This Litigation is Bananas
August 2, 2019This Costume is Bananas: Third Circuit Judge Thomas Hardiman wrestles with validity of copyright for full-body banana costumes. An interlocutory appeal in copyright infringement litigation between Kangaroo Manufacturing and Rasta Imposta raises a question of first impression – whether a banana costume’s “costume’s non-utilitarian, sculptural features” are copyrightable. Kangaroo Manufacturing sells a banana costume that More »
Read More »Working Hard or Making Work? Plaintiffs’ Attorneys Fees in Securities Fraud Class Actions
July 26, 2019Prime beach reading has been posted on SSRN. The potential for self-dealing for attorneys representing plaintiff classes is a persistent problem. NJCJI has repeatedly pointed out that the class action model is a deeply flawed mechanism for delivering relief to class members, with attorneys more often creating the illusion of relief for class members while More »
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