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

No Basis for Million-Dollar Jury Verdict for "Incivility in the Workplace"

Vosough v. Kierce, 437 N.J. Super. 218 (App. Div. 2014). Plaintiffs, all "highly-regarded OB/GYN specialists," had independent contractor agreements ("ICA's") with St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson. Under those...

Kemp v. State

On this date in 2002, the Supreme Court decided Kemp ex rel. Wright v. State, 174 N.J. 412 (2002). The Court split 4-3. Justice Stein wrote the majority opinion, in...

A Warning to Appellate Lawyers From Judge Fuentes

Walters v. YMCA, 437 N.J. Super. 111 (App. Div. 2014). This decision by Judge Fuentes, issued today, reverses a grant of summary judgment in favor of the YMCA in what...

Supreme Court Guideline Barring Lawyers From Posting Accurate Quotes From Judges on Law Firm Websites is Invalid

Dwyer v. Cappell, 762 F.3d 275 (3d Cir. 2014). Andrew Dwyer is a lawyer who handles plaintiffs' employment law litigation. Evidently, some judges have said favorable things about him in...

Violent Rap Lyrics Are Not Admissible to Show Criminal Intent or Motive Unless Directly Connected to the Crime Charged

This is another guest post by my colleague at Lite DePalma Greenberg, LLC, Jeffrey A. Shooman: State v. Skinner, 218 N.J. 496 (2014). I've blogged before about Federal Rule of...

Morris County Bar Association MCLE Seminar- "New Jersey Appellate Practice: Tips From the Bench and Bar"

In September 2013, the Morris County Bar Association presented a seminar titled "Building the Trial Record and Arguing it on Appeal." The panelists were Justice Patterson, Judges Sabatino, Stern, and...

25 Years Since Decker v. Princeton Packet (Mistaken Report of One's Death is Not Defamatory)

On August 8, 1989, the Supreme Court decided Decker v. Princeton Packet, 116 N.J. 418 (1989), one of the leading cases in New Jersey on defamation and infliction of emotional...

Eminent Domain Act Does Not Require Condemning Authority to Negotiate With Anyone Other Than Record Title Holder

Borough of Merchantville v. Malik & Son, LLC, 218 N.J. 556 (2014). In this eminent domain case, the Appellate Division held that, in taking a piece of property by condemnation,...

The Mailbox Rule

Lupyan v. Corinthian Colleges, Inc., 761 F.3d 314 (3d Cir. 2014). Even in these days of electronic filing, Twitter, Facebook, and other electronic means of communicating, some communications still go...

Error of "Constitutional Dimension" Can Still be Harmless Error

State v. Camacho, 218 N.J. 533 (2014). It is an error "of constitutional dimension" for a trial judge in a criminal case to fail to instruct the jury that it...

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103104105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146…Last

A Municipal Court Administrator is Employed by the Township, Not the Administrative Office of the Courts

Palmisano v. State of New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). The opening paragraph of Judge Marczyk's opinion for the Appellate Division well encapsulates what the appeal was about and what the result was. "Plaintiff Lindsay Palmisano appeals from the trial court's April 1, 2024 order dismissing her complaint with prejudice against defendant State of New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts and Municipal Division (AOC) pursuant to Rule 4:6-2(e). The primary issue on appeal is whether plaintiff, a municipal court administrator, is an employee of the AOC, thereby allowing her to assert a claim against the AOC under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD), N.J.S.A. 10:5-1 to -49. Based on our review of the record and the applicable legal principles, we conclude plaintiff was employed by Vernon Township (Township), not the AOC, and, therefore, we affirm."...

Supreme Court to Take Up Two Published Appellate Division Opinions

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in two new appeals. One is before the Court on leave to appeal. The Court granted certification in the other matter....

South Seaside Park Can Detach Itself From Berkeley Township

Whiteman v. Township Council of Berkeley Township, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). South Seaside Park is a small (490 year-round residents) barrier island community that has been annexed to the Township of Berkeley ("the Township"). South Seaside Park sought to deannex itself from the Township and to be annexed instead to the Borough of Seaside Park. South Seaside Park followed a statutory petitioning procedure in doing so. The Township refused consent. South Seaside Park went to court and won a ruling from the Law Division that rejected the Township's refusal. The Appellate Division affirmed. Yesterday, in a unanimous opinion by Justice Patterson, the Supreme Court affirmed as well....

Megan's Law "Not Likely to Pose a Threat to the Safety of Others" Extends to Non-Sexual as Well as Sexual Re-Offenses

In re Registrant S.O., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). This appeal presented a pure legal issue relating to the "public safety prongs" contained in the termination provisions of Megan's Law, N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2(f), and the Community Supervision for Life statute ("CSL"), N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6.4(c). Judge Vanek crystallized that "novel" issue as "whether, on a registrant's application to terminate Megan's Law and CSL obligations, the phrase ‘not likely to pose a threat to the safety of others' should be broadly interpreted with the trial court considering threats to safety from subsequent non-sexual and sexual offenses or whether the inquiry should be limited to the threat of sexual re-offense only." The panel held that the broader view was the correct one....