ESTATE OF LAURA CHRISTINE SEMPREVIVO BY AND THROUGH ITS ADMINISTRATOR AD PROSEQUENDUM, PATRICIA SEMPREVIVO, AND PATRICIA SEMPREVIVO AND RONALD SEMPREVIVO IN THEIR OWN RIGHTS, PLAINTIFFS-APPELLANTS, v. HASSAN LAHHAM, DEFENDANT, AND LIVIU HOLCA, DEFENDANT-RESPONDENT., 468 N.J. Super. 1

Summary

HOLDINGS: [1]-The trial court mistakenly exercised its discretion by denying plaintiffs' motion to reinstate their complaint and erred as a matter of law by dismissing the complaint with prejudice because the trial court applied the "exceptional circumstances" standard in R. 1:13-7(a) at a juncture in the case when application of that standard did not serve the purpose of the rule, the record was devoid of any blame directly attributable to plaintiffs, and the certification of plaintiffs' initial counsel expressly specified that the blame lay with the firm's staffing issues.