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

25 Years Since Frank v. Ivy Club

This year, today is the day when Independence Day, which falls on July 4, is observed, and so the courts are closed. But in some other years, the courts have...

Senate Bill Would Create Title of "Acting Justice"

By a 22-16 vote, the Senate passed and sent to the Assembly a bill known as S-2515. An identical bill, A-3269, has been introduced in the Assembly. That legislation would...

Judges Currier and Gilson are Elevated to the Appellate Division

Chief Justice Rabner announced yesterday that Judges Currier and Gilson will be elevated to the Appellate Division, effective on August 1, 2015. Both of those judges had been temporarily assigned...

Mootness, and Some Useful Reminders

State v. Ross, 441 N.J. Super. 120 (App. Div. 2015). This characteristically concise opinion by Judge Fisher involved an order by the Law Division in this criminal case that granted...

The Anniversary of Sinclair v. Merck

On this date in 2008, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Sinclair v. Merck & Co., Inc., 195 N.J. 51 (2008). In that case, a majority of the Court,...

Nobody's Perfect

In re Petition of Fishermen's Atlantic City Windfarm, LLC, 2015 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 1265 (App. Div. May 29, 2015). This not precedential decision, issued last Friday, May 29, addresses...

Damages for Defamation, and a Statute of Limitations Issue

NuWave Investment Corp. v. Hyman Beck & Co., 221 N.J. 495 (2015). This short per curiam opinion, issued today, affirmed the ruling of the Appellate Division, which was reported at...

The Anniversary of the Sham Affidavit Doctrine

On May 22, 2002, the Supreme Court decided Shelcusky v. Garjulio, 172 N.J. 185 (2002). That was a personal injury case in which a forklift driver at a plant where...

"Extraordinary Circumstances" Justifying Late Notice of Tort Claim

Beyer v. Sea Bright Borough, 440 N.J. Super. 424 (App. Div. 2015). The New Jersey Tort Claims Act, N.J.S.A. 59:8-8, requires anyone who wants to bring a tort claim against...

Towns Can't Impose Additional Requirements, Even Redundant Ones, on Gun Applications

In re Denial of Application of Z.K. for a New Jersey Firearms Purchaser Identification Card and Permit to Purchase, 440 N.J. Super. 394 (App. Div. 2015). Yesterday, while many of...

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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....