Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%
Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.
NJ and CT News
New Jersey
High Court Considers Admissibility of Child's Out-of-Court Statement
New Jersey's Supreme Court is mulling whether a statement made by a three-year-old child from his hospital bed to a social worker about three beatings he allegedly suffered at the hands of his father is admissible in a criminal trial without the child's being subject to cross-examination. The Appellate Division threw out the assault conviction of father, Ryan Buda, and granted him a new trial, finding the trial court erred in admitting the testimony of the social worker, who was allowed to recount her conversation with the child in lieu of his live testimony. She said that the boy told her, 'I fell down in my room. Dad [Buda] says nobody beat me.' Appellate Division Judges Edwin Stern, Carmen Messano and Jack Sabatino said the testimony's admission without cross-examination of the boy violated the U.S. Constitution's Sixth Amendment confrontation clause and art. I, ' 10 of the New Jersey state constitution. In a concurring opinion, Judge Sabatino said admission of the statement violated the tenets of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004). Noted Sabatino: 'Following Crawford, out-of-court statements that formerly were routinely admitted against defendants under recognized hearsay exceptions – such as excited utterances, statements to physicians and business or public records – are not admissible for their truth if they are judicially deemed 'testimonial' in nature and the declarants cannot be cross-examined.'
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.
The Article 8 Opt In
The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.
Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin
With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.
Legal Possession: What Does It Mean?
Possession of real property is a matter of physical fact. Having the right or legal entitlement to possession is not "possession," possession is "the fact of having or holding property in one's power." That power means having physical dominion and control over the property.
The Stranger to the Deed Rule
In 1987, a unanimous Court of Appeals reaffirmed the vitality of the "stranger to the deed" rule, which holds that if a grantor executes a deed to a grantee purporting to create an easement in a third party, the easement is invalid. Daniello v. Wagner, decided by the Second Department on November 29th, makes it clear that not all grantors (or their lawyers) have received the Court of Appeals' message, suggesting that the rule needs re-examination.