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

A New Third Circuit Chief Judge

As of October 1, Judge Smith has succeeded Judge McKee as Chief Judge of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge McKee has been Chief Judge since 2010, succeeding Judge Scirica in...

No Waiver of Arbitration Clause Even After Years of Litigation, Because Arbitration Demand, Pre-AT&T v. Concepcion, Would Have Been Futile

Chassen v. Fidelity Nat'l Financial, Inc., 836 F.3d 291 (3d Cir. 2016). [Disclosure: I was an expert witness for plaintiffs in this case, but my Declaration and deposition testimony was...

A "Bleak House" for the 21st Century- Chavez v. Dole Food Co.

Chavez v. Dole Food Co., 836 F.3d 205 (3d Cir. 2016). In the classic Charles Dickens book "Bleak House," the legal case of Jarndyce v. Jarndyce ran for so many...

Ascertainability Does Not Bar Class Action Settlement Where Parties Agree That the Class is Ascertainable

In re Comcast Corp. Set-Top Cable Television Box Antitrust Litig., 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 16135 (3d Cir. Aug. 31, 2016). It is not often that the Third Circuit summarily reverses...

Supreme Court Grants Review of Two TCCWNA/CFA Class Certification Decisions

The Supreme Court has granted certification of class certification decisions in two cases under the Consumer Fraud Act, N.J.S.A. 56:8-1 et seq., and the Truth in Consumer Contract, Warranty, and...

Child Pornography and Collateral Estoppel

Doe v. Hesketh, 828 F.3d 159 (3d Cir. 2016). Today, the Third Circuit, in an opinion by Judge Greenaway, ruled in a case of a child victim of federal crimes...

The U.S. Supreme Court Has Spokeo, and Class Action Defendants' Fondest Hopes Have Been Dashed

Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, ___ U.S. ___ (2016). Class action defendants often label cases seeking statutory damages as "no-injury class actions." Those defendants do not like statutes such as the Fair Credit...

Pleading Standards in Putative Class Actions in New Jersey State Courts

Baskin v. P.C. Richard & Son, LLC, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). [Disclosure: I am one of the counsel for the successful plaintiffs in this matter]. In this case, the Appellate...

NFL Concussion Settlement Affirmed in a Magnificent Third Circuit Opinion

In re NFL Players Concussion Injury Litig., 821 F.3d 410 (3d Cir. 2016). Too often, objectors to settlements of class action litigation "risk making the perfect the enemy of the...

The Third Circuit Applies Campbell-Ewald and Rejects an Attempt to Moot a Class Action by Buying Off the Named Plaintiff

Weitzner v. Sanofi Pasteur, Inc., 819 F.3d 61 (3d Cir. 2016). Earlier this year, in Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, 136 S.Ct. 663 (2016), discussed here, the Supreme Court of the...

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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....