Opinion ID: 2797758
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Equitable Analysis

Text: Under New Jersey law, judicial decisions that adopt new rules are generally given retroactive effect. Coons II, 476 A.2d at 767. Courts may, however, depart from that general rule when they determine that “retroactive application could produce substantial inequitable results.” Selective Ins. Co. of Am. v. Rothman, 34 A.3d 769, 773 (N.J. 2012). To determine “what is just and consonant with public policy in the particular situation presented,” courts generally consider three factors: “(1) justifiable reliance by the parties and the community as a whole on prior decisions, (2) a determination 4 One case may be read as implying that an issue of first impression is not involved when a court “merely applie[s] existing rules to a new factual variant.” See Malinowski v. Jacobs, 915 A.2d 513, 515 (N.J. 2007)