Donald S. Goldman was a Superior Court judge from 1992 to 2009. Before then he was in private practice for 22 years. During his service as a judge, he has been assigned to all the trial court divisions including civil, criminal, and family courts. Judge Goldman was a member of the National AIDS Commission from 1989 to 1993 having been appointed by the Congress. Since his appointment to the bench, Judge Goldman has served as chair of the New Jersey Judiciary Task Force on AIDS that developed the judiciary's policy on AIDS ultimately approved by the New Jersey Supreme Court and was chair of the New Jersey Judiciary Advisory Committee on Americans with Disabilities Act Compliance. He remains a member of New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on Jury Selection in Civil and Criminal Trials.
During his practice as an attorney and his tenure as a judge, Judge Goldman has litigated or presided over the widest variety of civil cases. In private practice he represented both plaintiffs and defendants and as a judge maintained a reputation for fairness, integrity and creativity.
Among the cases he participated in as an attorney were: Perlmutter v. DeRowe, 58 N.J. 5 (1971). (constitutionality of pre-trial civil arrest procedure); Young v. West Orange Redev. Agency, 125 N.J. Super. 440 (App. Div. 1973). (application of municipal bidding laws); West Orange v. Goldman's Estate, 2 N. J. Tax 582 (Tax Ct. 1981). (valuation of property impaired by environmental limitations for ad valorem tax purposes); Vallillo v. Muskin Corp., 212 N.J. Super. 155 (App. Div. 1986), certif. denied, 111 N.J. 624 (1988). (products liability of swimming pool seller when injured swimmer was experienced and actually knew of the dangers of diving into shallow above ground pool); Matter of Peter by Johanning, 108 N.J. 365 (1987). (right of guardian of patient in persistent vegetative state to authorize termination of artificial life support); School Board of Nassau County, Florida v. Arline, 480 U.S. 273, 107 S. Ct. 1123, 94 L. Ed.2d 307 (1987). (application of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act to communicable diseases); Cole v. Roxbury Twp., 257 N.J. Super. 108 (App. Div. 1992). (tenure rights for municipal finance officer).
Judge Goldman continued handling a wide variety of important civil cases after he was appointed to the bench. Among the opinions he wrote were: Profit Sharing Trust of Marprowear Corporation v. Lampf, Lipkind, Prupis and Pettigrue, 267 N.J. Super. 174, 639 A.2d 1191 (Law Div. 1993). (application of ERISA to legal malpractice claim, judicial estoppel, proximate cause, and standards for stay pending appeal); City of Newark v. J.S., 279 N.J. Super. 178, 652 A.2d 265 (Law Div. 1993). (New Jersey's tuberculosis control statute, its application, constitutionality, and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance); Thomas v. New Jersey Insurance Underwriting Ass'n (NJIUA), 277 N.J. Super. 630, 649 A.2d 1383 (Law Div. 1994). (misrepresentation during litigation can void insurance coverage if it could affect insurer's attitude and actions at the time it was made); Howard Savings Bank v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co.,286 N.J. Super. 205, 668 A.2d 486 (Law Div. 1993), aff'd., 285 N.J. Super. 491, 667 A.2d 390 (App. Div. 1995). (mortgagee is not entitled to notice of non-renewal of fire insurance policy); CSC Insurance Services v. Graves, 293 N.J. Super. 244, 679 A.2d 1244 (Law Div. 1996) ("used to carry persons or property for a fee" form PIP exclusion clause is not to be taken literally, but means same as "used as a public or livery conveyance" in N.J.S.A. 39:6A-2(a), and test is whether vehicle was held out to the public for hire); Simonetti v. Board of Adjustment of Township of Millburn, 2004 WL 1631399 (Law Div. 2004) (planning board's discretionary decision to grant bulk variance was not arbitrary and capricious nor unreasonable); Sylvan/Summer Homes, L.L.C. v. Brinkeroff Environmental Services et als, 2005 WL 1252337 (Law Div. 2005) (summary judgment granted to environmental consultant who failed to uncover hidden deposit of hexavalent chromium inside of structure when consultant created remediation plan to remove hexavalent chromium from the land around the building in the 1980s for former owner of property); Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 1317 v. De Camp Bus Lines, Inc., 382 N.J. Super. 418, 889 A.2d 489 (Law Div. 2005) (award of back pay to an employee in a labor arbitration constitutes wages for employment tax purposes); Isetts v. Borough of Roseland et als, 2005 WL 2334363 (Law Div. 2005) (defendants' motion for summary judgment granted as to CEPA claims because Isetts was not an "employee" for purposes of CEPA at the time the alleged retaliation took place although he remained on payroll, granted as to tortious interference claim as against Roseland but denied as to individual defendant, granted as to breach of settlement contract claim because it alleged merely emotional damages and granted as to some, but not all, 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983 claims); Millburn Courtyard Associates, LLC v. Planning Bd. of Tp. of Millburn, 2006 WL 1413698 (Law Div. 2006), aff'd. 2007 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 42 (App. Div. 2007) (deviation from parking space requirement requires variance under zoning ordinance rather than exception under site plan requirements); Wieland v. Mountainside Hosp., 2006 WL 2089885 (Law Div. 2006) (motions to dismiss on affidavit of merit grounds are denied because they rely on N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-27 when that statute no longer applies because the alleged malpractice occurred after the effective date of N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-41); Park Ridge Estates, L.L.C. v. Township of Cedar Grove, 2006 WL 2598215 (Law Div. 2006) (tree protection ordinance is unconstitutional; provides guidance on what proper ordinance should contain); H&S Development Corp. v. New Jersey Dept. of Community Affairs, 2006 WL 3598427 (Law Div. 2006) (rock-climbing wall not subject to regulation by Department of Community Affairs as a "Carnival-Amusement Ride" under N.J.S.A. 5:3-32(a)); Evans v. Township of Maplewood, 2007 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 2982, 2007 WL 2227123 (Law Div. 2007) (Designation as part of blighted area reversed when property in question was not "blighted" itself nor necessary for remediation of designated area)
In addition, Judge Goldman was regularly assigned to help the parties resolve the largest, the oldest, the most complex, and the most difficult to settle cases in Essex County, and he did so including 7 and 8 figure cases. In 2009 in the process of presiding over and ultimately helping the parties settle one of the oldest, most intractable and important lawsuits between two large law firms in New Jersey, the New Jersey Law Journal referred to Judge Goldman as "Solomonic." Prior to his retirement, he was the environmental judge for Essex County.
Judge Goldman has been married for over 42 years and has two daughters and four granddaughters. He is a graduate of Rutgers (Newark) Law School and has written and lectured extensively on a wide variety of issues. In addition to the requirements to be a R. 1:40 mediator, he has completed a 40+ hour course in civil mediation at The National Judicial College.
Print
Return to the SGDR Directory of Attorneys
