Although not entirely a workers’ compensation case, the Appellate Court recently ruled in favor of a plaintiff involving a procedural issue. The plaintiff was a volunteer firefighter struck by a South Hackensack fire truck. At the time, he alleges, the individual defendants were using the truck to bar hop. Instead of filing his claim within the Workers’ Compensation Division, the plaintiff filed a complaint for personal injury damages in the Law Division. In November 2020, the defendants moved to dismiss asserting that the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction, that the Workers’ Compensation Division had exclusive jurisdiction and the plaintiff’s sole remedy was to be found, if at all, in the Workers’ Compensation Act. The motion judge rejected the argument that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction but found the Workers’ Compensation Court had primary jurisdiction and transferred the matter.

Despite the motion judge’s transfer order, the Division would not adjudicate the case unless the plaintiff filed a petition for benefits. Refusing to do so, the plaintiff moved to the trial court for reinstatement of his complaint. The motion was denied, but the judge wrote to the Division providing notification of her transfer order.

The Division’s supervising judge reconfirmed that the matter would not be adjudicated unless the plaintiff filed a claim petition for benefits. The plaintiff then moved in the trial court, once again, for reconsideration. The judge again...

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