The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- New Jersey
- Level
- Court
- Authority
- Judicial decision construing the Disaster Control Act and the Emergency Health Powers Act
- Issued
- 2021-10-18 Oct. 18, 2021
- Effective
- 2021-10-18 (decided; approved for publication) (read as 2021-10-18)
- End
- n/a (precedential decision)
- In force
- Oct. 18, 2021 (no end date recorded; counted as in force for 120 days)
- Limitation types
- Emergency declarationBusiness closureCapacity limitOther
- Addressees
- specified businesses (health clubs) and, by its statement of the statute, every person and business subject to the Governor's orders
- Character
- adjudication
- Collection
- Standing duties: New Jersey DUT-NJ
Operative words
anyone who is found to have violated any order, rule, or regulation adopted by the Governor pursuant to the Disaster Control Act shall be adjudged a disorderly person and be subject to fine or imprisonment. N.J.S.A. App. A:9-49(h) and (i).... the Governor intended to exercise his authority to regulate the operations of specified categories of businesses under N.J.S.A. App. A:9-40 and 9-45.
Penalty
States the App. A:9-49 disorderly-persons penalty (fine or imprisonment) for violation of any gubernatorial order
What it required
The court held that the COVID-19 executive orders were an exercise of the Governor's statutory power under App. A:9-40 and 9-45 to regulate the operations of categories of businesses, enforceable by the disorderly-persons penalty of App. A:9-49 and -50, that they did not commandeer property requiring compensation, and that the Legislature on June 4, 2021 'affirmed the Governor's continuation of a state of emergency under the Disaster Control Act' (P.L. 2021, c. 103). Character as recorded: adjudication (order_penalty layer).
Retrieval noteOfficial slip opinion from the Judiciary's server (150 KB, 'APPROVED FOR PUBLICATION'). The plaintiff operated the Atilis Gym in Bellmawr. The opinion also recites the sequence of EOs 103, 104, 107, 242 and 244 with their New Jersey Register citations (e.g., EO 242, 53 N.J.R. 1044(a); EO 244, 53 N.J.R. 1131(a)). Located through the CourtListener search API; the reporter citation was not verified in this session and the case is cited by docket number and date.