Robert Perkel, et al. v. Frank Canella, et al.
AdministrativeLaw DueProcess
Where the State of New Jersey's probate laws and rules of procedure require a party seeking to probate a decedent's Last Will provide notice and opportunity to be heard to all interested persons, do the due process and equal protection clauses require service of profess calculated to provide actual notice, rather than notice by implication, as the New Jersey Supreme Court effectively held?
QUESTIONS PRESENTED 1. Where the State of New Jersey’s probate laws and rules of procedure require a party seeking to probate a decedent’s Last Will provide notice and opportunity to be heard to all interested persons, do the due process and equal protection clauses require service of profess calculated to provide actual notice, rather than notice by implication, as the New Jersey Supreme Court effectively held? 2. Where the State of New Jersey’s probate laws and rules of procedure permitted the commencement of a Will contest action, and no adverse party asserted any claim that the action was commenced in bad faith or sought dismissal for facial insufficiency, and the plaintiffs were entitled to normal pre-trial discovery, did the Supreme Court of New Jersey violate the equal protection clause by treating Petitioners’ case as a “class of one” and dismissing it before the merits were ever fully developed?