NJ Supreme Court Case Review. The New Jersey Supreme Court, struggling to maintain the social remedial aspects of the Workers’ Compensation Act, adopted a liberal “quantification of disability” rule to determine the Statute of Limitations date to be utilized in occupational disease claims.This approach is in stark contrast to the Court’s conservative interpretation “notice” requirement that it had enunciated in Brock v. Public Service Electric & Gas Co., 149 N.J. 378 (1997). 

The consensus that usually prevails when the New Jersey Supreme Court decides workers’ compensation claims was shattered this term when the Court dealt with an issue that could affect the ongoing school funding controversy. Justice O’Hern, writing for the majority of the Court in Outland v. Monmouth-Ocean Education Service Commission, No. A-48-97, 1998 WL 387263 (N.J. July 1, 1998) determined that a teacher who was employed under a ten-month contract and who was injured during the school year was entitled to temporary compensation benefits during the summer recess period.