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

A Poor Judicial Product and a Disaster for Consumer Protection: A Lengthy Analysis of AT&T v. Concepcion

AT&T Mobility, LLC v. Concepcion, 131 S. Ct. 1740 (2011). From the same people who brought us the outrageous 5-4 decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 550 U.S....

A Third Circuit Debate About Waiver (or Forfeiture) of Arguments Not Raised Below

Tri-M Group, LLC v. Sharp, 638 F.3d 406 (3d Cir. 2011). In this case, the Third Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that Delaware's Prevailing Wage Regulations unlawfully discriminated against out-of-state contractors,...

"No Counterclaims" Clause in Loan Agreement is Invalid

Investors Savings Bank v. Waldo Jersey City LLP, 418 N.J. Super. 149 (App. Div. 2011). A loan agreement provided that all documents relating to the loan were legal, valid, binding and enforceable,...

No Waiver Even Though Argument Was Not Raised Below

Barefoot Architect, Inc. v. Bunge, 632 F.3d 822 (3d Cir. 2011). This was a group of appeals in a Virgin Islands case that involved, among other things, copyright, Lanham Act, and common...

The Uses of Unpublished Opinions

Division of Youth & Family Services v. M.D., 417 N.J. Super. 583 (App. Div. 2011). This lengthy opinion by Judge Messano focuses on what information counsel must provide to a defendant who...

Trial Summations Using Powerpoint

Romano v. Stubbs, 2010 WL 5392942 (App. Div. Dec. 16, 2010). In this personal injury case, the plaintiff's trial summation was accompanied by a Powerpoint presentation that the plaintiff did...

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Four New Criminal Appeals, and a Lone Civil Matter, for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in five new appeals. Four of them are criminal cases and one is a civil appeal....

The "Limited Attorney Exemption" of the Debt Adjustment and Credit Counseling Act is Held Unconstitutional as Violative of the Separation of Powers and Void for Vagueness

Anchor Law Firm, PLLC v. State of New Jersey, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). The Debt Adjustment and Credit Counseling Act, N.J.S.A. 17:16G-1 et seq. ("DACCA"), prohibits debt adjusters in New Jersey from operating for a profit. There is an exception for attorneys not "principally engaged" (a term not defined in the statute) in debt adjustment. That exception, adopted in a 1986 amendment, replaced a prior version of the DACCA that had exempted all attorneys from its scope....

Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week: Where a Party Files a Suit Alleged to Violate the UPEPA But Quickly Dismisses It, Can Defendants Then Get Counsel Fees Under the Statute?

On May 15, judges on Part C of the Appellate Division will hear oral argument in Satz v. Keshet Starr. Plaintiff, acting pro se, filed a defamation suit against defendants. Defendants filed an o order to show cause to dismiss the case and for attorneys' fees under the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act, N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-49 et seq. ("UPEPA"). The UPEPA, enacted in 2023, sought to make it more difficult to use the legal system as a weapon to bully individuals into silence by filing what have been known as SLAPP ("strategic lawsuits against public participation") suits....

"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....