Harris v. City of Newark is a New Jersey Civil Rights Act (NJCRA) case that asks whether a defendant is entitled to pursue an interlocutory appeal on a qualified immunity denial in civil rights cases brought under the NJCRA.
New Jersey has not adopted the federal collateral-order doctrine or any related jurisprudence on qualified immunity (QI) appeals. However, the city of Newark is urging the New Jersey Supreme Court to do so in this case. Specifically, Newark is arguing that interlocutory appeals of QI denials are necessary to "preserve traditional immunity defenses" and prevent irreparable injury to the city (in the form of litigation costs and interference with government duties).
NPAP's brief challenges this claim by the city of Newark, refuting the purported public policy benefits of qualified immunity interlocutory appeals, and, by extension, the public policy benefits of QI, since the reason that courts tend to allow for interlocutory appeals of QI denials is primarily to facilitate the overall goals of QI.