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

Wikipedia in the Appellate Courts

A recent posting about citations to Wikipedia in the federal Circuit Courts of Appeals leads to the question of what the attitude is toward Wikipedia in the Supreme Court of...

DePascale v. New Jersey (Judges' Pension Case) Argued

The oral argument in the Supreme Court of the United States today about the Affordable Care Act, a/k/a "Obamacare," has drawn so much attention that it has overshadowed the nearly...

Senate Judiciary Committee Rejects Kwon for Supreme Court

Today, by a 7-6 vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee rejected Governor Christie's nomination of Philip Kwon for a seat on the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Seven of the eight...

Abraham Lincoln: "A Lawyer's Word is His Bond"

Today, February 13, 2012, New Jersey's state courts are closed in observance of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln exactly 203 years ago yesterday. Leaving aside a Supreme Court of New Jersey...

An Important (Though Currently Unpublished) New Class Action Opinion

Wenger v. Cardo Windows, Inc., 2012 WL 280254 (App. Div. Feb. 1, 2012). Plaintiffs in this consumer class action sought injunctive relief and statutory civil penalties against defendants in connection...

A Unique Experience Before the Supreme Court of New Jersey

Today, I had the pleasure of arguing an important case involving choice of law, statute of limitations, and federal preemption issues before the Court. But only one Justice, Justice Lavecchia,...

Editorial: Oral Arguments at the United States Supreme Court Should be Webcast Live

The Sunday Review section of today's New York Times features a "Sunday Dialogue" entitled "Putting the Justices on TV." In response to a Times article about whether oral arguments at...

Has the Supreme Court Rejected the Restatement (Third) of Trusts?

The Supreme Court of New Jersey has historically been willing to adopt the views of the American Law Institute, as stated in its various Restatements of the Law, including, in particular,...

Supreme Court Oversight of Bar Applicants' Character and Fitness

Often overlooked is the fact that the Supreme Court of New Jersey is more than just the court of last resort for state court appeals. Under Article VI, section 2,...

2010-11 Court Year Statistics

The New Jersey Judiciary has released its 2010-11 court year report. During the past year, according to that report, the Supreme Court of New Jersey received 1,184 petitions for certification....

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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....