Daniel Tumpson, Russell Hoover, Eric Volpe, Cheryl Fallick and Joel Horwitz, Plaintiffs-Appellants and…

Summary

The Supreme Court held that the Hoboken City Clerk violated the Faulkner Act by refusing to file the referendum petition and that this violation deprived the plaintiffs of a substantive statutory right protected by the New Jersey Civil Rights Act, entitling them to attorney’s fees. The Court affirmed the trial court’s finding on the Faulkner Act violation, reversed the Appellate Division’s reversal of the civil‑rights finding, and remanded for further proceedings. Justice Patterson, concurring in part and dissenting in part, agreed the clerk did not interfere by threats or coercion but disagreed that the clerk’s action constituted a deprivation under the Civil Rights Act.