“A trial judge had an obligation to hold a plenary hearing on disputed issues in a suit between two former law firm partners, even if he thought the matter petty and unworthy of the lawyers involved, an appeals court ruled last week. The panel reversed Monmouth County, N.J., Superior Court Judge Alexander Lehrer, who decided motions to enforce litigants’ rights based on conflicting certifications, after calling the dispute ‘the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen’ and questioning whether the amount at issue justified the cost of a hearing.” At one point the judge said, of a requested evidentiary hearing, “Let’s spend $60,000 in legal fees for me to determine whether or not one lawyer owes another lawyer $24,000.” (Mary Pat Gallagher, New Jersey Law Journal, Sept. 9).
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