Irwin Kimmelman (1930-2014)

Irwin I. Kimmelman, who served as an Assemblyman in the 1960’s, as Attorney General of the State of New Jersey in the Kean administration from 1982-86, and as a judge of the Superior Court, died last Friday. He actually had two separate stints as a judge. The first, from 1970-76, ended when he returned to private practice. Reappointed to the bench again in 1989, Judge Kimmelman was promoted to the Appellate Division in 1994. He remained there until he retired in 2000, though he later served on the Appellate Division as a recall judge as well.

A quick LEXIS search reveals 58 published Appellate Division opinions authored by Judge Kimmelman. Those opinions cover many different areas of civil, criminal, and matrimonial law. Among the better known of those opinions are Brae Asset Fund, L.P. v. Newman, 327 N.J. Super. 129 (App. Div. 1999), which involved guaranties, Menlo Park Associates v. Woodbridge Tp. Planning Bd., 316 N.J. Super. 451 (App. Div. 1998), a municipal land use decision, and Epstein v. State, 311 N.J. Super. 350 (App. Div. 1998), which addressed late notices of claim under the Tort Claims Act. N.J.S.A. 59:8-1 et seq. Judge Kimmelman also wrote the Appellate Division’s opinion in Cornblatt v. Barow, 303 N.J. Super. 81 (App. Div. 1997), a case that later led to a landmark opinion of the Supreme Court under the Affidavit of Merit statute, N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-26 to -29, in Alan J. Cornblatt, P.A. v. Barow, 153 N.J. 218 (1998).