LAW OFFICES OF GEOFFREY D. MUELLER, LLC

Per The New Jersey Law Journal:

"Defense lawyers say they expect to file more suppression motions as a result of a recent, favorable U.S. Supreme Court ruling on drunken driving.

"The court, in Missouri v. McNeely, No. 11-1425, held on April 17 that as a general rule, police must obtain a search warrant or consent in order to extract blood from a driver to test for alcohol.

"Previously, the fact that the passage of time would cause a drop in blood-alcohol levels was deemed a sufficient exigency to justify an exception to the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement for searches.

"Under McNeely, however, the drop in levels may support an exigency finding in a particular case but does not do so categorically."

Justice Sotomayor wrote for a divided Court.

Full article and McNeely decision after the jump...

Per The Star Ledger:

"Ken Daneyko is exhausted.

"The former New Jersey Devil was known for many things during his 20-year career with the team – his rugged play, his toothless grin – but one thing he wasn’t known for is being an international deal maker and recruiter.

"Daneyko spearheaded the planning for today's Global Hockey Legends for Sandy Relief event at the Prudential Center, a charity hockey game that brought together dozens of former National Hockey League stars and an entire team of Russian hockey veterans to benefit victims of the devastating hurricane.

"He put together the majority of it in just a few weeks and played in the game, too.

"'"[']ve never been on the phone more in two weeks than I have (been),” a red-faced Daneyko said after the game. “I got turned down because of other commitments, maybe 10 percent (of the time), other than that it was 80-90 percent of the team I wanted to put together … everybody was in, it was amazing. I thought it was going to take a lot more calls, but then I hounded them.”

"It paid off. The event brought thousands to the Prudential Center and raised more than $50,000, which will be donated to the New Jersey Sandy Relief fund."

Full article after the jump...

Per The New Jersey Law Journal:

"Tenants seeking a break in rent for building services interrupted by Hurricane Sandy got bad news on Monday, as an Essex County judge ruled the outages were 'unquestionably beyond the power of the landlord to have reasonably avoided or corrected.'

"'Restoration of power was within the control of the power supplier, rather than the landlord,' Superior Court Judge Mahlon Fast said, denying a rent abatement in Gardens at Maplewood v. Fowlin, ES[X] LT 5240-13.

"According to the opinion, tenant Ronald Fowlin withheld half his $1,495 rent for last November, citing his lack of lights, heat and hot water for two weeks.

"His landlord, owner of the Gardens at Maplewood apartment complex, filed for eviction based on nonpayment of $857.50, which included a late charge, attorney fees and court costs.

"Fowlin contended that the landlord was subject to an implied covenant of habitability and that he was entitled to an allowance for the apartment's uninhabitable condition.

"He cited Marini v. Ireland, 56 N.J. 130 (1970), which held that a tenant may receive an allowance for certain conditions found to be the landlord's fault or responsibility.

"But Fast said the conditions in Fowlin's case were not a result of a latent defect in the facilities or caused by the landlord's failure to make repairs.

"Fowlin also cited Chess v. Muhammad, 179 N.J. Super. 75 (1981), in which the Appellate Division said that 'even the most diligent landlord cannot prevent occasional interruptions in the livability of rented premises, whether due to the breakdown of mechanical facilities or sudden acts of nature.'

"Fast said Chess also noted that tenants' remedies are limited to cases in which the landlord failed to make repairs within a reasonable time.

"'I know of no case allowing relief to a tenant because of a loss attributable to an act beyond the reasonable control of a landlord,' Fast wrote, ordering Fowlin to remit the unpaid amount by April 15 or face a judgment for possession."

Full article after the jump...

Per The Star Ledger:

"Embattled Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti was forced to resign today, just two days after head basketball coach Mike Rice got the ax.

"Neither will walk away empty-handed.

"Pernetti — under a settlement agreement obtained by The Star-Ledger — will be paid more than $1.2 million in return for his resignation. Under the terms of his contract, Rice is entitled to receive more than $1 million.

"University officials declined comment on the payouts."

Copy of the Settlement Agreement found at the bottom of this link.

Per The New York Post:

"Later in the day, Rutgers released the findings of the special investigation it commissioned before suspending Rice last December, and while it spends 33 1/2 pages meandering about and all but excusing Rice’s behavior, at the bottom of Page 34 we find this remarkable summary:

“'In sum, we believe there is sufficient evidence to find that certain actions of Coach Rice did ‘cross the line’ of permissible conduct and that such actions constituted harassment or intimidation within Rutgers’ Policy. ... Furthermore, due to the intensity with which Coach Rice engaged in some of the misconduct, we believe that ... Pernetti could reasonably determine that Coach Rice’s actions tended to embarrass and bring shame or disgrace to Rutgers in violation of Coach Rice’s employment contract with Rutgers.'

"Perfect. So Pernetti’s take is he wanted to fire Rice but wasn’t allowed to. His tweedy boss, Barchi, insists he had no idea of the extent of Rice’s sociopathic behavior until a few days ago. Except their own report now shouts to the sky that both of these perspectives were abject falsehoods (at best) or bald-faced lies (at worst)."

Copy of the Rutgers University Report on Mike Rice can be found at this link.

Per The National Law Journal:

"U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull, the former chief judge in Montana who filed a complaint against himself last year after acknowledging that he sent a racist email about President Obama, has announced plans to retire by May 3.

"Cebull's move came after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit's Judicial Council issued its final order on March 15 regarding discipline against him. According to a formal statement by Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, the order will remain sealed pending the appeal process."

***

"Cebull sent the email to family and friends in February of last year from his work computer with the subject line "A Mom's Memory." The text said: "A little boy said to his mother, ‘Mommy, how come I'm black and you're white?' His mother replied, ‘Don't even go there Barack! From what I can remember about that party, you're lucky you don't bark!""

***

"By filing a complaint against himself on March 1 of last year, Cebull initiated the Judicial Council's investigation into whether his actions constituted misconduct under the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act. He faced potential discipline ranging from a public reprimand to impeachment. The Judicial Council also could have dismissed the complaint or declined to recommend discipline, opting instead for admonishment or a public apology."

Full article follows below...

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Per The Legal Intelligencer:

"Without clear direction from the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has decided that judicial opinions enjoy First Amendment protections of free speech.

***

"'The First Amendment prevents the government from criminally punishing a sitting judge's speech about one of his pending cases unless it poses a clear and present danger to the administration of justice,' wrote Third Circuit Judge D. Brooks Smith on behalf of the three-judge panel in In re Kendall. Also on the panel were Judge D. Michael Fisher and Senior Judge Jane R. Roth.

"The Third Circuit reversed the Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands, which had held Virgin Islands Superior Court Judge Leon Kendall, now retired, in criminal contempt for an opinion he issued in a contentious case over which he was presiding involving the death of a police officer.

"The initial finding of contempt against Kendall was an outgrowth of a dispute about a plea bargain in the underlying case that spun into bitterness between Kendall and the prosecutor after Kendall tried to enforce the plea bargain.

"The prosecutor filed a writ of mandamus with the Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands, which reversed Kendall's orders to enforce the plea agreement and remanded the case to him.

"Kendall later issued a 31-page opinion that included a denunciation of the Supreme Court's decision to grant the writ of mandamus — saying, among other things, that the Supreme Court's reasoning lacked merit and made no sense — and recused himself from presiding over the rest of the case because he had become dubious of the prosecutor and no longer believed him, according to the Third Circuit's opinion.

"'The Virgin Islands Supreme Court did not take Kendall's recalcitrance lying down,' Smith said."

Full article follows below...