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

Supreme Court Will Review Maeker v. Ross (Palimony/Statute of Frauds), and Townsend v. Pierre (Evidence/Proximate Cause)

The Supreme Court announced late yesterday that it had granted certification to review Maeker v. Ross, 430 N.J. Super. 79 (App. Div. 2013). The decision of the Appellate Division is...

New Emergent Application Procedures in the Appellate Division

The Appellate Division has announced new procedures for emergent applications. The Notice to the Bar that details those procedures is available here. The key change is that the Appellate Division...

CEPA and "Watchdog" Employees

Lippman v. Ethicon, Inc., 432 N.J. Super. 378 (App. Div. 2013). Today's opinion under the Conscientious Employee Protection Act, N.J.S.A. 34:19-1 to -8 ("CEPA"), written by Judge Fuentes, reversed a summary...

The Year's Longest Published Appellate Division Decision

Kaye v. Rosefielde, 432 N.J. Super. 421 (App. Div. 2013). This first post of the 2013-2014 Term focuses on the longest published decision issued by the Appellate Division in the just-ended 2012-2013...

Judges Rothstadt and O'Connor are Temporarily Assigned to the Appellate Division

It was announced today the Chief Justice Rabner has temporarily elevated Judges Garry S. Rothstadt and Amy O'Connor to the Appellate Division. The two judges will serve there from September...

Brief Administrative Determination Addressed to Spanish-Speaking Puerto Rican Resident Must be Translated Into Spanish in Its Entirety in Order to Satisfy Due Process

Alicea v. Board of Review, 432 N.J. Super. 347 (App. Div. 2013). In Rivera v. Board of Review, 127 N.J. 578 (1992), a case that, like today's decision, involved a...

An Advertisement: "Extraordinary CLE Program With Justice Patterson; Judges Axelrad (PJAD), Sabatino (JAD), and Stern (PJAD- retired); Bruce D. Greenberg, Esq., and Mattheu Nunn, Esq."

The title of this post is the title of an e-mail that went to members of the Morris County Bar Association to announce a seminar on appellate practice that will...

Extent of Foster Child's Bonding With Foster Family May be Relevant to Relatives' Application for Custody

New Jersey Division of Child Protection & Permanency v. C.S., 432 N.J. Super. 224 (App. Div. 2013). As Judge Fisher noted in today's opinion, in the context of children who...

Party Who Litigated for 21 Months Waived Right to Compel Arbitration

Cole v. Jersey City Medical Center, 215 N.J. 165 (2013). In Cole v. Jersey City Medical Center, 425 N.J. Super. 48 (App. Div. 2012), discussed here, the Appellate Division ruled that defendant,...

Governor Christie Will Not Re-Nominate Justice Hoens to the Supreme Court

Governor Christie announced today that he will not re-nominate Justice Hoens to the Supreme Court once her initial seven-year term expires later this year. Instead, he is nominating Judge Faustino J....

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127128129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167…Last

"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....