New Jersey Attorney Law Review Blog

--> In an opinion issued on July 31, 2012, the New Jersey Supreme Court declared that a pet owner is not entitled to recover damages for emotional distress caused by witnessing the traumatic death of her dog.  Joyce McDougall v. Charlot Lamm (A-99-10) (067436) . The facts are relatively straightforward.  On June 7, 2007, plaintiff Joyce McDougall was walking her dog when a large dog belonging to defendant Charlot Lamm ran out, grabbed McDougall's dog by the neck, and picked it up and shook it several times before dropping it, causing the death of her dog.  McDougall bought the dog as a puppy for $200 in 1997, and believed a new puppy would cost $1,395. At the trial level McDougall described her pet as a “friendly, lively, energetic dog” that loved children and was capable of performing numerous tricks.  McDougall testified that the dog was very happy to see her when she came home, slept in a bed near hers, and was with her much of the time....

Richard A. Pulaski Construction Co., Inc. v. Air Frame Hangars, Inc. (A-40-07, July 1, 2008). The New Jersey Supreme Court leaves open the question of whether New Jersey common law recognizes a prima facie tort claim. The legal definition of "prima facie" is evidence sufficient in law to establish a fact unless rebutted. In this case the New Jersey Supreme Court had to decide whether New Jersey common law provides a remedy for misconduct that did not meet the traditional standards of a tort cause of action (i.e., such as fraud). This was not the first time the Court confronted this issue, for 10 years earlier in Taylor v. Metzger , 152 N.J. 490 (1998), the Court expressly declined to recognize a prima facie tort claim under New Jersey common law. However, in Taylor the Court noted that a leading treatise (Restatement) explained that such a cause of action encompasses the intentional, willful and malicious harms that "fall within the gaps of the law" and have been m...