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SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS TENURE FOR ALBIN
"After grilling state Supreme Court Justice Barry Albin for more than three hours on Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 8-4 to recommend his appointment for full tenure, largely along party lines. The hearing was the denouement to what had promised to be a Republican broadside at Albin, a 56-year-old Democrat nominated to the Court in 2002 by Gov. James McGreevey. Albin explained in broad terms the Court's reasoning in decisions that he wrote or participated in' including those on school funding and same-sex marriage' but refused to critique cases decided before he took the bench. The committee sent Albin's nomination to the full Senate, which could give its confirmation on Thursday."

GREENAWAY, NOMINEE FOR ALITO'S 3D CIRCUIT SEAT, IS A CENTRIST AT HEART
"Don't look for a 180-degree swing between Samuel Alito Jr. and Joseph Greenaway Jr., President Barack Obama's nominee to fill Alito's seat on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Greenaway, whom Obama nominated on June 19, is a centrist who was a prosecutor and corporate lawyer before he began 13 years of service on the federal district court in Newark. The 36 published decisions by the Third Circuit on appeals taken from Greenaway rulings since 1996 depict a trial judge who appears to have no ideological sharp elbows when it comes to issues such as sentencing, employee rights and deference to government."

IN RAPID FIRE, SENATE PANEL GIVES NODS TO 13 JUDGES, TWO PROSECUTORS

"The Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday recommended approval of 13 nominees for the Superior Court and two for county prosecutor posts. Of the judicial nominees, three are from Bergen County â?? Margaret Foti, Charles Powers Jr. and Ronny Siegel â?? and three are from Passaic County â?? Greta Gooden Brown, Bruno Mongiardo and Joseph Portelli. The other seven are Terrence Cook of Burlington County; Catherine Fitzpatrick of Mercer County; Colleen Flynn and Barry Weisberg of Middlesex County; Stephanie Wauters of Ocean County; Robert Gilson of Sussex County; and James Hely of Union County. The prosecutor nominees are Camelia Valdes in Passaic County and David Weaver in Sussex County."

DISABILITY-OVERHEAD COVERAGE CLAIM IS FIRST-PARTY, SO NO FEE SHIFT WARRANTED
"Insurance policies that cover a firm's business expenses occasioned by the disability of a principal are first-party in nature, and so the firm can't recover its legal fees for enforcing coverage, the state Supreme Court held on Monday. Though the case, Shore Orthopaedic Group, LLC v. The Equitable Life Assurance Society, DDS No. 23-1-4255, concerned a medical practice, it should make law firms with similar 'disability overhead expense' policies sit up and take notice. The Court found that because the group bought the policy, paid the premiums and was the beneficiary in the event the covered doctor became disabled, the claim was first-party in nature and not subject to the fee-shifting provision of Rule 4:42-9(a)(6)."

SUPREME COURT SIDES WITH STUDENT'S FAMILY IN SPECIAL ED CASE
"Experts are already debating the impact of Monday's U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding a decision from the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals mandating that a school district pay $65,000 for a special-needs high school student's private school tuition. Educators and public school officials watching the case had claimed that millions  'maybe hundreds of millions' of dollars of public money was at stake. At issue was a 1997 amendment to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that says public tuition may be available for students who 'previously received special-education' services in a public school' if that public school does not provide a 'free or appropriate public education' (known as a FAPE) for the student."