Background

The Borough of Caldwell contracted with Cozzarelli Cirminiello Architects, LLC for architectural services including design, construction and rehabilitation of Borough-owned facilities.  CCA’s invoices were approved by municipal officials before being submitted to and approved by the Council before they were paid.  After a new Council was elected, the Borough terminated its contracts with CCA.  Caldwell then sued CCA in the Law Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey in Essex County for breach of contract, unjust enrichment and violation of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. Caldwell claimed that CCA failed to perform its services, failed to produce “products,” failed to support the Borough on construction bids, failed to produce construction documents, double billed the Borough, and billed it above the agreed upon rate.

Title VII of the United States Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination both prohibit employers from illegally discriminating against their employees.  Normally the evaluation is straightforward under the McDonnell Douglas Test.  However, in the case of reverse discrimination, i.e., where an employer is accused of discriminating against an employee who is in the majority, New Jersey and many Federal courts imposed a higher burden of proof on the employee.  In cases of reverse discrimination, employees in New Jersey state courts and many federal courts had to satisfy the “Background Circumstances Rule,” which requires that the employee prove that he “has been victimized by the unusual employer who discriminates against the majority.”  However, in 2025, the United States Supreme Court unanimously struck down the Background Circumstances Rule in Title VII cases in the case of Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services.

The U.S. Supreme Court Steps In

Background

Alberto Cabrera was the municipal clerk of the Town of Guttenberg, New Jersey.  As so often happens, the parties wished to terminate their relationship.  They entered into a Separation Agreement which provided that Cabrera would stop performing his duties and go on paid leave beginning on August 18, 2022, and the leave would terminate with his retirement on March 31, 2023.  He would be on the payroll and paid his regular salary by the Town through that day.  He would continue to get medical benefits through March 31, 2023.  The Town would also pay him his accrued but unused vacation, sick, compensatory and personal days for 2022 and 2023.  Cabrera agreed to submit a letter requesting this paid leave of absence, which he did the same day.  The Town’s Mayor and Council voted to approve the agreement.  Cabrera inquired about amending the agreement once, but it was never changed in any way.

The New Jersey Arbitration Act and Federal Arbitration Act generally require enforcement of agreements to arbitrate disputes.  This extends to the enforcement of arbitration agreements in employment contracts.

However, in response to the #MeToo Movement, Congress passed the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021.  The EFAA provided:

Judge Boggia served on the Superior Court bench for more than twenty years in the Civil Division, both as trial judge and acting presiding civil judge, handling complex trials, including class actions, product liability, medical malpractice and serious personal injury claims.  He also helped settle hundreds of civil cases before trial, and instituted the first mediation program in the Bergen County Superior Court.

Prior to his appointment to the Superior Court bench, Judge Boggia served as Law Clerk to the Honorable Arthur J. O’Dea in the New Jersey Superior Court, and as an assistant prosecutor in Bergen County, handling serious criminal cases. He was House Counsel for Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, and in that position tried hundreds of cases and earned the distinction of Certified Trial Attorney.  Judge Boggia sat concurrently as Municipal Judge in the Bergen County communities of Little Ferry, Leonia, Maywood, Bogota, and Fairview, New Jersey.

In the Matter of the Certificates of Nicholas Cilento, State Board of Examiners, New Jersey Department of Education

Background

Nicholas Cilento was a special education teacher with the Woodbridge Township School District.  On May 21, 2019, he was relieved of his teaching responsibilities because it was alleged that he consumed alcohol on school grounds.  Tenure charges were filed in November 2019.  Cilento appealed the charges and after an evidentiary hearing in which Cilento admitted struggling with alcoholism and consuming alcohol on school grounds, an arbitrator upheld charges of conduct unbecoming, violations of state and municipal law, violations of District policy.  The arbitrator imposed a three-month unpaid suspension and reinstatement on a “last chance” basis.

Background

Gregory Gacia was a police officer with the Wharton, New Jersey, Police Department.  As a result of a search of his residence, he was charged with false representations and gun possession offenses.  Thereafter, on November 14, 2022, he entered into a plea agreement whereby he pled guilty to one count of possessing a large capacity ammunition magazine in the fourth degree.  He was sentenced to one year of probation, with the judgment of conviction entered on January 13, 2023.  Garcia appealed his decision to the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey, when affirmed his conviction on October 7, 2024.  He thereafter appealed to the Supreme Courts of New Jersey and the United States, both of which refused to hear his appeal.

Background

Ehimwenma Adeyin was a non-tenured assistant principal at Rosa Parks Community School in Orange, New Jersey.  She began work in 2023, and her contract was renewed for the 2023-2024 school year.  She was permitted to participate in a two-year program to obtain a certificate from the New Jersey Department of Education for the position of principal.

Background

E&N Construction, Inc., a construction company, signed a two page agreement with Extech Building Materials, Inc. to purchase construction supplies.  They signed a two page, six paragraph agreement. The sixth paragraph provided:

Amrit, Inc. Buys a Gas Station and a Decade Later Litigation Ensues

The decision explained that in 2012, the parties entered into a into a Motor Fuel Supply Agreement (MFSA) in connection with Amrit, Inc.’s purchase of a gas station in New Brunswick, New Jersey from PMG New Jersey II, LLC.  The MFSA was amended three years later in 2015 to include a provision which provided that if the purchaser received an offer to buy the gas station, PMG had 30 days to give notice that it was exercising its right to purchase the gas station on the same terms and conditions as the new offer; if not it waived this right of first refusal.  The MFSA was later amended to last through 2027.