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

Supreme Court's Decision in Shelton v. Restaurant.com Applies Retroactively to Plaintiffs

Bohus v. Restaurant.com, Inc., 784 F.3d 918 (3d Cir. 2015). [Disclosure: I argued this appeal for plaintiffs in this case]. Retroactivity of judicial opinions is sometimes a difficult question. The...

Daubert Challenges to Damages Models at the Class Certification Stage

In re Blood Reagents Antitrust Litigation, 783 F.3d 183 (3d Cir. 2015). In Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, 133 S.Ct. 1426 (2013), discussed here, the Supreme Court reversed the 2011 decision...

FLSA Plaintiff Wins Under an Exception to an Exemption

McMaster v. Eastern Armored Services, Inc., 780 F.3d 167 (3d Cir. 2015). Plaintiff Ashley McMaster was a driver and/or guard (some days she drove, and other days she rode as a...

Don't Submit Too Many Letters Citing Supplemental Authorities

Cottillion v. United Refining Co., 781 F.3d 47 (3d Cir. 2015). This opinion by Judge Ambro, issued today, affirmed a summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs and a class in...

Ascertainability Uber Alles? Not in a (b)(2) Class Action, Says the Third Circuit

Shelton v. Bledsoe, 775 F.3d 554 (3d Cir. 2015). In Carrera v. Bayer Corp., 727 F.3d 300 (3d Cir. 2013), a damages class action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule...

Preliminary Approvals of Class Action Settlements Cannot be Appealed Under Rule 23(f)

In re National Football League Players Concussion Injury Litigation, 775 F.3d 570 (3d Cir. 2014). Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(f) states that "[a] court of appeals may permit an...

With Ironies Abounding, the United States Supreme Court Rules on Removal Under CAFA

Dart Cherokee Basin Operating Co., LLC v. Owens, ___ U.S. ___ (2014). This case reached a fairly simple conclusion: a notice of removal that removes to federal court a putative...

Quest Defeats Class Certification at the Third Circuit

Grandalski v. Quest Diagnostics, Inc., 767 F.3d 175 (3d Cir. 2014). Plaintiffs filed a putative class action in which they alleged that defendant, a company that performs medical lab tests,...

Check Out the ABA's 18th Annual Class Actions Institute- October 23-24, 2014, in Chicago

The 18th Annual American Bar Association Class Actions Institute will take place on October 23 and 24 at theWit Hotel in Chicago. The full brochure for the Institute can be found...

Placing Debtor's Account Number on Envelope of Collection Letter is Not Permitted by the FDCPA

Douglass v. Convergent Outsourcing, 765 F.3d 299 (3d Cir. 2014). The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. §1692f(8) ("FDCPA"), forbids debt collectors from putting on the envelopes of debt...

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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....