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

The Appellate Division This Week

The Appellate Division issued four published opinions this week. Here are summaries:...

Indictment of Attorney for State of New Jersey Defendants in an Unrelated Civil Case Did Not Disqualify His Firm From Representing State Defendants There

Mauer v. State of New Jersey, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). Plaintiff, a State of New Jersey employee, filed lawsuits against the State, several State agencies, and certain employees of those agencies under the Conscientious Employee Protection Act, N.J.S.A. 34:19-1 et seq. The two cases were consolidated. The law firm of Brown & Connery ("B&C") appeared for defendants....

Post-Judgment Interest Presumptively Accrues From the Date That a Judgment is Entered on the Docket

C.E. v. Elzabeth Public School District, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). This opinion by Judge Smith today was the second ruling by the Appellate Division in this case. The previous decision was summarized here....

Certified Trial Lawyers May Pay Referral Fees to Out-of-State Counsel, As Such Fees Are Not for Legal Services

In re Opinion No. 745 of the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics, __ N.J. ___ (2025). Rule 1:39-6(d) creates an exception to the general principle, embodied in Rules of Professional Conduct ("RPC") 7.2(c) and 7.3(d), that New Jersey attorneys may not pay referral fees, with only limited exceptions. The exception in Rule 1:39-6(d) permits only attorneys who have satisfied the requirements of becoming certified by the Supreme Court in a particular area of practice to pay referral fees....

A Discovery/Sanctions Anniversary

On February 12, 1951, the Supreme Court decided Lang v. Morgan's Home Equipment Corp., 6 N.J. 333 (1951). The Court's unanimous opinion, written by Chief Justice Vanderbilt, appears to be the first decision from the Court relating to principles of sanctions for discovery violations....

Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week: Does Atalese v. U.S. Legal Services Group, L.P., 219 N.J. 430 (2014), Apply to an Arbitration Clause in a Condominium Purchase Agreement?

Tomorrow, February 12, a panel of judges on Part F will hear oral argument in Wang v. COA Hudson 99, LLC. The case involves an arbitration clause in a Subscription and Purchase Agreement for a condominium residence unit. Plaintiffs on this appeal, purchasers of the unit, declined to close because, they asserted, the unit was substantially smaller than had been represented to them. Defendants in this case filed a demand for American Arbitration Association ("AAA") arbitration, contending that the buyers had breached the contract by failing to close and that defendants were entitled to retain the buyers' deposit....

A Slew of New Supreme Court Grants of Review

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in seven new appeals. Two of those matters (one civil and one criminal) involve leave to appeal, while the others are before the Court on grants of certification....

A Supreme Court Civil Opinion About Appealability, and an Appellate Division Criminal Decision About a Deported Defendant's Failure to Appear at a Pretrial Conference

Brehme v. Irwin, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). One might intuitively think that a plaintiff who accepts full payment of a civil judgment for damages from an auto accident including pain and suffering, disability, impairment, loss of enjoyment of life, and past lost wages, and signs a warrant to satisfy judgment cannot then an appeal a ruling on a motion in limine that barred evidence of future medical expenses....

January, So Far

With the coming of the new year, this blog went onto a new platform. That fact, along with a Supreme Court oral argument and a Committee on Character hearing last week, has left this blog behind as 2025 begins. Our appellate courts, however, have been active. Here are summaries of their January 2025 published opinions to date:...

A New Required Certification for Appellate Briefs

The Supreme Court's September 4, 2024 Order providing for the posting online of most Appellate Division and Supreme Court briefs in argued cases, discussed here, has led to an interim...

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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....

Appellate Division Published Opinions During and After Its Recess

The final day of the Appellate Division's two-week recess was April 25. On that date, the Appellate Division issued a published opinion. Two more published opinions followed during the current week. Here are summaries of those opinions....

"Ethics in Appellate Practice" Seminar at the NJSBA Annual Meeting on May 15

I will be moderating a panel titled "Ethics in Appellate Practice" that will help kick off Day 2 of the New Jersey State Bar Association Annual Meeting on May 15. The presentation will be from 8:45-10 AM. It will feature Judge Gummer of the Appellate Division and distinguished appellate practitioners with experience in and perspectives on ethics in the appellate context from both the plaintiffs' and the defendants' sides....

With the Appellate Division's Recess Over, The Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week is Another Waiver of Arbitration Case

On Tuesday, April 29, judges on Part F of the Appellate Division will hear oral argument in Newport Associates Development Co. v. Chubb Ins. Co. The appeal arises out of the denial by the Law Division of the motion of defendant AIG Specialty Insurance Company ("ASIC") to compel arbitration of plaintiffs' claim for indemnity in connection with underlying litigation with Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. and Public Service Electric and Gas Company. The Law Division held that ASIC had waived its contractual right to demand arbitration....