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

Admitted Violation of Defendant's Miranda Rights, Which is Presumed to be Harmful Error, Was Not Harmless in This Case

State v. Wade, 252 N.J. 209 (2022). As Justice Solomon said in his unanimous opinion for the Supreme Court today in this murder case, New Jersey courts "rarely find an...

Three New Supreme Court Grants of Review

The Supreme Court announced that it will consider three new matters. Two of those involved grants of certification, while the third was an appeal as of right. The appeal as...

Does Criminal Liability for "Bribery in Official and Political Matters" Attach to a Candidate Who is Not an Incumbent and Does Not Win Election? The Supreme Court Will Decide

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in State v. O'Donnell. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk's office, is "Does N.J.S.A. 2C:27-2, which imposes...

A Motion to Dismiss Case and Four Criminal Matters for the Supreme Court

Today, and earlier this week, the Supreme Court announced that it had granted certification in five cases. Four are criminal appeals and one is a civil matter. The civil case...

Three New Criminal Appeals for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in three new cases. All of them are criminal matters. In one case, the Court granted leave to appeal. The other...

The Supreme Court Begins the New Term by Granting Review in Five Cases

The Supreme Court announced the first grants of review in the new Term. The Court took up five cases. Two of those are before the Court on leave to appeal...

Two by Judge Accurso: The First Two Published Opinions of the New Term

State v. Alvarez, 473 N.J. Super. 448 (App. Div. 2022); State v. Chau, 473 N.J. Super. 430 (App. Div. 2022). These two opinions, issued today, were both authored by Judge...

The Second Half of August

As usually occurs with the current Term nearing its end, the Supreme Court and the Appellate Division have issued relatively few opinions in the second half of August. Here are...

The First Week of August

The dog days of summer often see the Supreme Court and the Appellate Division issuing opinions in cases argued earlier in the Term. The Third Circuit is often more active...

Two New Criminal Appeals for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in two new criminal appeals. One of those matters came to the Court on leave to appeal, while certification was granted...

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Retired Policeman's Pension Benefits Were Wrongly Paid to His Estranged Spouse Rather Than to His Estate, Where He Had Not Designated Anyone to Receive the Pension Benefit if He Died

Isaac v. Board of Trustees, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). Two kinds of benefits are payable to retired members of the.Police and Firemen's Retirement System ("PFRS"). One is a pension benefit, a part of the member's compensation for past services. Pension benefits go to the person whom the member designates, or to the member's estate if no designation is made. The other is a survivor's benefit, which goes to the member's widow for the duration of his or her widowhood. Former Newark policeman Keith Isaac made no designation as to his pension benefits, though he did list his estranged wife, Roxanne, as his spouse when he filed for retirement. Based on that, Isaac's pension benefits were distributed to Roxanne. Isaac's estate contested that, and today the Supreme Court held that the estate should have gotten the pension monies....

The Supreme Court Clarifies New Jersey's Automobile Exception to the Requirement of a Search Warrant

State v. Fenimore, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). Both the United States and New Jersey Constitutions protect the people against "unreasonable searches and seizures" and prohibit the issuance of search warrants without "probable cause." Both federal and New Jersey law, however, recognize an "automobile exception" to the warrant requirement. But New Jersey's automobile exception is narrower than the federal exception, as the Supreme Court stated in State v. Witt, 223 N.J. 409 (2015). Today, the Supreme Court ruled that the Appellate Division in this case had interpreted Witt too broadly in reversing a Law Division decision to exclude evidence from a warrantless search. The Supreme Court reversed and excluded the evidence....

"Liberal Standards" for Standing "Are Not Equivalent to No Standards At All," the Supreme Court Says

New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers, Inc. v. Ford Motor Co., ___ N.J. ___ (2025). As Justice Pierre-Louis observed in her opinion for a unanimous Court in this case today, New Jersey state courts have long "take[n] a more liberal approach to standing than federal law." But in this appeal, the statute sued upon, the Franchise Practices Act, N.J.S.A. 56:10-1 et seq. ("FPA"), stated that only a "franchisee" could sue its franchisor. Because plaintiff here ("NJCAR") was not a franchisee but an association of franchisees, NJCAR lacked standing to bring a FPA case....

Compassionate Release Act Does Not Require Physical Examination of Inmates Seeking Relief, But Denial of Relief in This Case Was Arbitrary and Capricious

M.R. v. New Jersey Department of Corrections, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). Plaintiff appealed the denial of his petition for release under the Compassionate Release Act, N.J.S.A. 30:4-123.51 ("CRA"). He argued that he had not been physically examined by a physician, and that the statute required a physical examination. The Appellate Division determined that the statute did not require a physical examination and upheld the denial of compassionate release. Today, in a unanimous opinion by Justice Hoffman, the Supreme Court agreed that no physical examination was required, but reversed the denial of compassionate relief as insupportable....