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

Expungement of Less Serious Criminal Convictions

In re Kollman, Jr., Petition for Expungement, 210 N.J. 557 (2012). "To afford a second chance to one-time offenders convicted of less serious offenses, who have led law-abiding lives since conviction, the...

Records of Public Law School Clinics Are Not Subject to Open Public Records Act

Sussex Commons Assocs., LLC v. Rutgers, the State University, 210 N.J. 531 (2012). Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and its two law schools are unquestionably subject to the Open Public Records...

Homeowners Association Cannot Ban Political Signs in Unit Windows

Mazdabrook Commons Homewoners Ass'n v. Khan, 210 N.J. 482 (2012). "The question in this appeal is whether a homeowners' association can prohibit residents from posting political signs in the windows of their...

Cap on Sick Leave Payments to School Administrators Upheld

New Jersey Ass'n of School Adminstrators v. Schundler, 211 N.J. 535 (2012). This case required the Supreme Court to parse and reconcile an unusually complex scheme of statutes and regulations that dealt...

"Reasonably Debatable": Arbitrator's Award of Pay for Ten-Minute Police Muster Period Upheld

Policemen's Benevolent Ass'n v. City of Trenton, 205 N.J. 422 (2011). The City of Trenton ordered certain employees to report for "muster" ten minutes before their shifts were to start, so that...

Welcome to the 21st Century! Playbacks of Testimony in Videotaped Trials

State v. Miller, 205 N.J. 79 (2011). Today, live court reporters are rare in state courts. Most courtrooms rely on video or audio recording of trials instead. The issue in this multi-count...

State Senate Calls on Justice Rivera-Soto to Resign

More than two months after Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto provoked a crisis regarding the temporary appointment of Appellate Division Presiding Judge Edwin Stern to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant...

Justice Rivera-Soto Says Farewell

Today, Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto notified Governor Christie that he did not wish to be reappointed to the Supreme Court when his seven-year initial term ends later this year. Justice Rivera-Soto...

Justices Behaving Badly

Henry v. New Jersey Dep't of Human Services, 204 N.J. 320 (2010), and Johnson v. Johnson, 204 N.J. 529 (2010). These two decisions will not be remembered for the facts or holdings of the...

Tea Party Chilled

Committee to Recall Robert Menendez v. Wells, 204 N.J. 79 (2010). This 4-2 decision holding that the federal Constitution invalidates that portion of a New Jersey recall statute that permits...

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"Hot Fun in the Summertime": Appellate Division Summer Parts

In an Order available here, Chief Justice Rabner announced the lineup for the Appellate Division's summer Parts. As has been customary, the "summer" runs not between the meteorological start and end dates for summer, nor from Memorial Day to Labor Day, but from June 16 through September 7....

The Supreme Court Confirms That Municipalities Can be Subjected to Sanctions for Frivolous Litigation

Borough of Englewood Cliffs v. Trautner, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). This appeal presented the question of whether municipalities can be liable to pay sanctions for frivolous litigation, under the Frivolous Litigation Statute, N.J.S.A. 2A:15-59.1 ("the FLS"). In a 5-0 opinion written by Justice Fasciale (Chief Justice Rabner and Justice Hoffman did not participate), the Court affirmed, as modified, the decision of the Appellate Division that upheld the Law Division's imposition of FLS sanctions against the Borough....

The "Castle Doctrine"

State v. Bragg, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). A jury found defendant guilty of twelve charged counts, including attempted murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault, terroristic threats, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, endangering, and two lesser-included offenses of harassment. Some of those charges involved the use of deadly force. Persons may not use deadly force if the can retreat with complete safety. But under the "castle doctrine," an exception to the general rule, a person "is not obliged to retreat from his dwelling, unless he was the initial aggressor." N.J.S.A. 2C:3-4(b)(2)(b)(i). That doctrine derives from the common law....

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....