In re Vicinage 13 of the N.J. Superior Court

• Decision Date: 16 April 2018
• Docket Number: DOCKET NO. A–4293–15T3
• Citation: 185 A.3d 895,454 N.J.Super. 330
• Parties: IN RE: VICINAGE 13 OF the NEW JERSEY SUPERIOR COURT; Warren County Office of the Prosecutor ; New Jersey Office of the Public Defender, Warren Region; Warren County Board of Chosen Freeholders
• Court: New Jersey Superior Court — Appellate Division

454 N.J.Super. 330

185 A.3d 895

IN RE: VICINAGE 13 OF the NEW JERSEY SUPERIOR COURT; Warren County Office of the Prosecutor ; New Jersey Office of the Public Defender, Warren Region; Warren County Board of Chosen Freeholders

DOCKET NO. A–4293–15T3

Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division.

Submitted November 29, 2017

Decided April 16, 2018

Joseph E. Krakora, Public Defender, attorney for appellant New Jersey Office of the Public Defender (Karl R. Keys, Deputy Public Defender, Paterson, of counsel and on the brief).

Bell and Shivas, PC, attorneys for respondent County of Warren (Joseph J. Bell, IV, Rockaway, and Brian C. Laskiewicz, on the brief).

Richard T. Burke, Warren County Prosecutor, Hackettstown, attorney for respondent State of New Jersey (Kelly Anne Shelton, Assistant Prosecutor, of counsel and on the brief).

Before Judges Alvarez, Nugent, and Geiger.

The opinion of the court was delivered by

ALVAREZ, P.J.A.D.

The New Jersey Office of the Public Defender (OPD) appeals from an April 29, 2016 declaratory judgment finding Courtroom No. 2 in the Warren County Courthouse to be constitutionally adequate for the conduct of criminal jury trials. We now reverse and remand. We also suggest the assignment judge of Middlesex County, to whom the matter had been transferred for decision, consider appointing a special master, pursuant to Rule 4:41–1, to make findings and recommendations before rendering a decision.

This case has an unusual procedural history. It commenced in 2011, when a Warren County public defender objected to conducting a criminal trial in newly renovated Courtroom No. 2.¹ His objection was overruled, and the matter proceeded to conclusion. On February 6, 2012, a second case was scheduled to be heard in the courtroom, and this time, the trial judge granted the motion to move the trial elsewhere. That judge described in detail problems with the design, including obstructions to a defendant's view of the witness stand and the jury box. The judge determined that the courtroom was constitutionally inadequate.

On February 9, 2012, the Warren County Prosecutor's Office (prosecutor's office) filed a motion before the Warren County assignment judge, seeking to vacate the trial judge's order barring the use of Courtroom No. 2. Meanwhile, a third application was made to stay a criminal trial in that courtroom. The Warren County assignment judge consolidated the matters and transferred them for hearing before the assignment judge of Middlesex County. The prosecutor's office then filed a verified complaint and order to show cause in that vicinage. The OPD removed the matter to federal court; it was remanded back to state court on June 20, 2012. The case, captioned "In re Vicinage 13," thereafter languished.

In the interim, Warren County filed separate litigation concerning the courtroom, which was settled with the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) on September 23, 2015. After the parties agreed to certain renovations, the action was dismissed. In March 2016, Warren County moved for declaratory judgment pursuant to the Declaratory Judgment Act (DJA), N.J.S.A. 2A:16–50 to –62. The matter bore the docket number of the prior—by then inactive—proceeding. It was the outcome of the DJA application that resulted in the order now appealed.

Turning to that decision, the assignment judge to whom the matter had been transferred ruled that the OPD lacked standing to participate. Acknowledging New Jersey's expansive view of the doctrine, the judge nonetheless reached this conclusion because the OPD did not represent a specific individual whose trial was currently scheduled in the courtroom.

Additionally, the court reasoned that even if the OPD had standing, the modifications agreed to in 2015 in the Vicinage 13 action between Warren County and the AOC corrected the six courtroom defects identified by the trial judge in 2012. The assignment judge based his determination in part on the representations of an architect the judge had designated for that purpose.

A certification from an OPD attorney, however, stated that not only were the constitutional issues with the courtroom unresolved, the settlement agreement called for modifications that were not completed. The attorney alleged that the alterations to the courtroom made it more cosmetically functional but failed to: correct line of sight issues, provide the space necessary for a criminal trial, and increase the available seats in the courtroom—meaning that, overall, the space was inadequate for jury selection as well as for public attendance.

The OPD raises the following points for our consideration:

POINT I

THE PUBLIC DEFENDER HAS STANDING [ ]

POINT II

THE TRIAL COURT'S GRANT OF A DECLARATORY JUDGMENT WAS [NOT] APPROPRIATE [ ]

POINT III

RES JUDICATA BARRED THE ISSUANCE OF A DECLARATORY JUDGMENT [ ]

POINT IV

TRIAL COURT INAPPROPRIATELY TOOK JUDICIAL NOTICE OF FACTS IN DISPUTE WITHOUT FOLLOWING RULE 201'S REQUIREMENTS [ ]

POINT V

THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN GRANTING RELIEF AS A MATTER OF LAW, ESPECIALLY ON A DISPUTED RECORD [ ]

POINT VI

COURTROOM TWO, AS DESIGNED, IS NOT CONSISTENT WITH FEDERAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE LAWS AND APPEARS TO VIOLATE THE AMERICAN[S] WITH DISABILITIES ACT [ ]

We discuss only the issues of standing and whether the matter is justiciable under the DJA. The remaining points on appeal either do not warrant discussion in a written opinion, Rule 2:11–3(e)(1)(E), or are made moot by our decision to remand.

I.

We conclude that the OPD has standing and should have been afforded the opportunity to participate in the declaratory judgment action. "The issue of standing is a matter of law as to which [this Court] exercise[s] de novo review." People For Open Gov't v. Roberts, 397 N.J. Super. 502, 508, 938 A.2d 158 (App. Div. 2008) (citing Manalapan Realty, L.P. v. Twp. Comm. of Manalapan, 140 N.J. 366, 378, 658 A.2d 1230 (1995) ); see also Rowe v. Hoffmann–La Roche Inc., 383 N.J. Super. 442, 452, 892 A.2d 694 (App. Div. 2006), rev'd on other grounds, 189 N.J. 615, 917 A.2d 767 (2007). New Jersey has traditionally taken a much more liberal approach on the issue than have the federal courts. In re Camden Cty., 170 N.J. 439, 451, 790 A.2d 158 (2002) ; Crescent Park Tenants Ass'n v. Realty Equities Corp. of N.Y., 58 N.J. 98, 101, 275 A.2d 433 (1971).

Our courts are not bound by the "case or controversy" requirement that governs federal courts under U.S. Const. Art. III, § 2. Salorio v. Glaser, 82 N.J. 482, 490, 414 A.2d 943 (1980). In Salorio, our Supreme Court said it was "free to fashion its own law of standing consistent with notions of substantial justice and sound judicial administration." Id. at 491, 414 A.2d 943. Thus, the Court has "consistently held that in cases of great public interest, any ‘slight additional private interest’ will be sufficient to afford standing."

N.J. Dep't of Envtl. Prot. v. Exxon Mobil Corp., 453 N.J. Super. 272, 274, 181 A.3d 257, 2018 WL 823001, 12 (App. Div. 2018) (citations omitted).

However, we "will not render advisory opinions or function in the abstract" nor "entertain proceedings by plaintiffs who are ‘mere intermeddlers’ or are merely interlopers or strangers to the dispute." Crescent Park Tenants Ass'n, 58 N.J. at 107, 275 A.2d 433 (citations omitted). "In the overall we have given due weight to the interests of individual justice, along with the public interest, always bearing in mind that throughout our law we have been sweepingly rejecting procedural frustrations in favor of ‘just and expeditious determinations on the ultimate merits.’ " Roberts, 397 N.J. Super. at 510, 938 A.2d 158 (quoting Crescent Park Tenants Ass'n, 58 N.J. at 107–08, 275 A.2d 433 ).

The assignment judge reasoned that the OPD lacked standing because the office was not actively representing a defendant whose trial was about to take place in Courtroom No. 2. Setting that undisputed circumstance aside, however, it was the OPD that initiated the proceedings years before. The subject matter of the litigation implicates the interests of the indigent criminal defendants the OPD is mandated to represent in that county, and such cases will be assigned to that courtroom. Thus, issues "of substantial justice and sound judicial administration" cannot be conclusively addressed without the OPD's participation. See Salorio, 82 N.J. at 491, 414 A.2d 943.

The federal court remanded the case to the state court in part because the OPD lacked standing to remove a matter in which it was not a named defendant. The analysis, however, is different and distinct—standing for removal purposes—from the question of whether the OPD has standing at all.

The State agrees with the OPD on this issue. So does Warren County, with the caveat that the OPD's interest extends only to per se violations of the Sixth Amendment, not to the other concerns the OPD raised before the assignment judge and by way of appeal. Even if that argument were correct, the OPD has a right, if not an obligation, to participate in the proceedings.

In a different context we have said a litigant must "raise the constitutional rights of a third party when the third party's rights are likely to be diluted or adversely affected unless they are raised by a plaintiff holding a confidential relationship with the third party." Stubaus v. Whitman, 339 N.J. Super. 38, 51, 770 A.2d 1222 (App. Div. 2001) (citing In re Estate of Neuwirth, 155 N.J. Super. 410, 419, 382 A.2d 972 (Cty. Ct. 1978) ). It is the OPD's voice that speaks to the due process rights of indigent criminal defendants. To exclude it from the process would be contrary to both substantial justice for the agency's clients as well as principles of sound judicial administration. See Salorio, 82 N.J. at 491, 414 A.2d 943.

II.

The DJA "authorizes courts to declare rights, status and other legal relations so as to afford litigants relief from uncertainty and insecurity." Chamber of Commerce v. State, 89 N.J. 131, 140, 445 A.2d 353 (1982). A decision regarding the constitutional...