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

A "Fundamental Principle of Corporate Law," and a Warning to Parties to Preserve Motion Papers

Delray Holding, LLC v. Sofia Design & Development, 439 N.J. Super. 502 (App. Div. 2015). Two real estate development entities ("the Sofia Entities") went into bankruptcy and, during bankruptcy proceedings, settled claims...

No Constitutional Right to Encroach on State Property

State v. Cherry Hilll Mitsubishi, Inc., 439 N.J. Super. 462 (App. Div. 2015). The State brought a summary action against the defendant car dealers, alleging that those dealers had been encroaching on...

"Public Policy" Does Not Require That a Spouse be Deemed the Beneficiary of a Life Insurance Policy

Fox v. Lincoln Financial Group, 439 N.J. Super. 375 (App. Div. 2015). A man had a life insurance policy on which he designated his sister as beneficiary. He then married,...

Supreme Court Will Review Digital Billboard Ban

The Supreme Court announced today that it has granted certification to review E&J Equities, LLC v. Franklin Tp. Bd. of Adj., 437 N.J. Super. 490 (App. Div. 2014). The question presented, as...

Denial of Motion to Consolidate Cases = Abuse of Discretion

Moraes v. Wesler, 439 N.J. Super. 375 (App. Div. 2015). Plaintiff was injured in a car accident in November 2011, for which she filed suit in 2012. Then, in 2013, she...

The Anniversary of Lopez v. Swyer

On this date in 1973, the Supreme Court decided Lopez v. Swyer, 62 N.J. 267 (1973). That opinion, written by Justice Mountain for a unanimous Court, applied and extended the...

Electronic Filing in the Appellate Division Advances, and the Supreme Court Joins in Too

Electronic filing in the Appellate Division was heralded several years ago, and the rollout began in June 2013. But the process has been slow to expand. This week, however, a...

A Venerable Decision Dismissing an Improperly Filed Interlocutory Appeal

As discussed (perhaps among other places) here, the Appellate Division has long frowned on attempts to file appeals as of right when there is in fact no final judgment on all...

"[T]echnical Defects Should Not Serve to Defeat an Otherwise Valid Filing"

Vanderslice v. Stewart, 220 N.J. 385 (2015). This case arose out of a mandatory, non-binding arbitration of an auto accident. Rule 4:21A-6(b)(1) requires that a party who seeks to appeal...

Spill Act Has No Statute of Limitations

Morristown Associates v. Grant Oil Co., 220 N.J. 360 (2015). The New Jersey Spill Compensation and Control Act, konwn as the "Spill Act," allows parties who clean up contamination to seek...

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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....