NJ Appellate Law Blog

Trial Courts May Not Take Away a Jury Trial as a Sanction for a Rule Violation

Williams v. American Auto Logistics, 226 N.J. 117 (2016). Parties who fail to follow procedural rules are a source of frustration to busy trial judges. As Justice Fernandez-Vina noted in...

An Ice Skater is (Wrongly?) Tripped Up by the Exhaustion Doctrine

Davidovich v. Israel Ice Skating Federation, 446 N.J. Super. 127 (App. Div. 2016). The subculture that is international competitive sport came to the Appellate Division in this case yesterday. Judge...

Exceptional Circumstances Called for Extension of Discovery to Allow Medical Malpractice Plaintiff to Get a New Expert

Castello v. Wohler, 446 N.J. Super. 1 (App. Div. 2016). In Medina v. Pitta, 442 N.J. Super. 1 (App. Div. 2015), discussed here, the Appellate Division ruled that a physician...

"Cumulative Error" Results in Reversal of a Plaintiffs' Jury Verdict

Torres v. Pabon, 225 N.J. 167 (2016). As Justice Patterson explained in her decision today for a unanimous Supreme Court, "cumulative error" exists when "the aggregate effect of a series...

Pleading Standards in Putative Class Actions in New Jersey State Courts

Baskin v. P.C. Richard & Son, LLC, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). [Disclosure: I am one of the counsel for the successful plaintiffs in this matter]. In this case, the Appellate...

NFL Concussion Settlement Affirmed in a Magnificent Third Circuit Opinion

In re NFL Players Concussion Injury Litig., 821 F.3d 410 (3d Cir. 2016). Too often, objectors to settlements of class action litigation "risk making the perfect the enemy of the...

Tort Claims Act Notice Need Not be Served on Private Government Contractor

Gomes v. County of Monmouth, 444 N.J. Super. 479 (App. Div. 2016). The Tort Claims Act, N.J.S.A. 59:1-1 et seq. ("TCA"), requires that a plaintiff who intends to sue a...

The Supreme Court Lays Out the Procedures for Cases Under the Grandparent Visitation Statute

Major v. Maguire, 224 N.J. 1 (2016). The Grandparent Visitation Statute, N.J.S.A. 9:2-7.1, permits grandparents to apply for visitation rights with their grandchildren even where the children's parents object. In...

Important Choice of Law Decisions Coming From the Supreme Court

Yesterday, the Supreme Court announced that it had granted review in Ginsberg v. Quest Diagnostics, Inc., 441 N.J. Super. 198 (App. Div. 2015), briefly summarized here. (Confirming that nobody is...

"Appeals Are Taken From Judgments and Not From Opinions, Let Alone Dicta"

Bandler v. Melillo, 443 N.J. Super. 203 (App. Div. 2015). It is a venerable rule that a party may appeal only a judgment, not the contents of an opinion that...

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A Supreme Court Oral Argument Anniversary (Tomorrow)

On January 3, 2005, the Supreme Court began livestreaming its oral arguments. As it happens, a case I was involved in was the first argument that day and, therefore, the first to be livestreamed. The Court has continued that practice ever since....

The Second Half of December

The last two weeks have seen no Supreme Court opinions. But the Appellate Division published three opinions, two of them in the criminal realm and one civil appeal. Here are summaries, to close out 2025:...

No "Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week" Posts for This Week and Next Week

There are no Appellate Division oral arguments scheduled for this week or next week, as the court takes a holiday break to that extent. So there will be no "Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week" posts here for this week or next....

A Privity of Contract Anniversary

On this date in 1984, the Supreme Court decided Arohnson v. Mandara, 98 N.J. 92 (1984). A unanimous opinion written by Justice Schreiber, the opinion was one of a series that cut back on privity of contract as a defense....