NJ Appellate Law Blog – NJ Appellate Lawyer Bruce D. Greenberg blogs about Appeals and Appellate Law Practice

No Arbitrariness in Rejection of Public Construction Bid That Failed to Include a Properly Signed, Required Consent of Surety

In the Matter of Protest Filed by El Sol Contracting and Construction Corp., Contract T100.638, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). This public bidding case resulted in a 5-2 split at the Supreme Court, the first non-unanimous ruling of the current Term. Justice Hoffman wrote the majority opinion, while Justice Fasciale authored the dissent for himself and Justice Pierre-Louis....

Five Three-Judge Panel Decisions Will Get Supreme Court Review

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in five new appeals. All five involve opinions by three-judge panels of the Appellate Division. But that is where the similarities end. One appeal has an expedited briefing schedule, that appeal and two others are before the Court on grants of certification, and the other two are matters in which the Court granted leave to appeal on somewhat similarly phrased questions presented. All but one of the Appellate Division's opinions appealed from were unpublished ones....

Three From the Appellate Division

The weather has been chilly this week, but the Appellate Division has been heating things up. That court issued published opinions today and on the preceding two days. Here are summaries of those decisions....

Non-Disparagement Agreements Do Not Violate the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination

Savage v. Township of Neptune, 472 N.J. Super. 291 (App. Div. 2022). Judge Haas issued this opinion of the Appellate Division. Plaintiff, a former sergeant with the Neptune Township police,...

Pre-Marital Agreements, Mid-Marital Agreements, Property Settlement Agreements, and (Today's Case) Agreements in the Nature of a Mid-Marital Agreement

Steele v. McDonnell Steele, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). Judge Enright's decision for the Appellate Division in this case today involved an appeal of the Family Part's enforcement...

Traditional Contract Law "Penalty" Clause Analysis Does Not Apply to Matrimonial Settlement Agreements

Holtham v. Lucas, 460 N.J. Super. 308 (App. Div. 2019). As Judge Ostrer noted in the first sentence of his opinion in this case today, "[a]ccording to well-settled contract law,...

No Surprise: The U.S. Supreme Court Says "Ambiguous" Arbitration Agreements Do Not Permit Class Arbitration

Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela, 139 S. Ct. 407 (2019). In Stolt-Nielsen, S.A. v. AnimalFeedsInt'l Corp., 559 U.S. 662 (2010), the Supreme Court of the United States, by a 5-3...

High-Low Agreement Did Not Permit Plaintiff to Recover Attorneys' Fees and Expenses Above the "High" Figure

Serico v. Rothberg, 234 N.J. 168 (2018). As discussed here, last year, the Appellate Division ruled in this medical malpractice case that a "high-low agreement" is a contract, and that...

"Reasonable Expectations of the Insured" Did Not Defeat Clear Policy Exclusion of "Insured vs. Insured" Claims

Abboud v. National Union Fire Ins. Co., 450 N.J. Super. 400 (App. Div. 2017). This opinion by Judge Ostrer interpreted an "insured vs. insured" exclusion in a directors and officers...

Plaintiffs' Creative Arguments Did Not Overcome the Language of Insurance Policies That Precluded Coverage

Gil v. Clara Maass Medical Center, 450 N.J. Super. 368 (App. Div. 2017). This was a medical malpractice case. The appeal, however, resulted from the Law Division's grant of summary...

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The Supreme Court Takes Up a Paramedics Immunity Case

The Supreme Court announced late yesterday that it has granted certification in Almonte v. Township of Union. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk's office, is "Under the circumstances presented, are the paramedics entitled to immunity because they provided advanced life support services "in accordance with this act" as required by N.J.S.A. 26:2K-14, specifically, N.J.S.A. 26:2K-10(a), which requires that the paramedic "maintains direct voice communication with and is taking orders from a licensed physician or physician directed registered professional nurse"?...

Three Big Decisions From the Supreme Court

Last week was an eventful one in the Supreme Court. The Court ruled in three appeals, all in closely watched cases. They are summarized here in reverse chronological order....

Two OPRA Cases and a Municipal Land Use Law Case for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in three new matters. All three involve grants of certification, but one also is an appeal as of right due to a relatively rare dissent in the Appellate Division....

The Third Circuit Returns to New Jersey Appellate Law Blog

When this blog began, in October 2010, it covered goings-on in the Supreme Court of New Jersey, the Appellate Division, and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, with occasional posts about the Supreme Court of the United States. That continued for many years. More recently, however, it became too difficult to keep up with all of those three courts, and coverage of the Third Circuit disappeared virtually entirely. But since the Supreme Court and the Appellate Division have not published many decisions recently (a circumstance that is certain to change shortly), this blog will resume covering the Third Circuit at least on occasion, beginning today....