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

"Do's and Don'ts of Appellate Practice- A February 25, 2020 Webinar

On February 25, from noon- 2 PM, NJICLE will presenting a webinar titled "Do's and Don'ts of Appellate Practice." I will be a panelist, along with Judges Koblitz and Sumners...

Why Do We Still Have "Unpublished" Appellate Division Opinions?

State v. Thompson, 462 N.J. Super. 370 (App. Div. 2020). Judge Fisher, in this ruling issued today in a DWI case, "readily acknowledge[d] this opinion expresses nothing new." One might...

Judges Koblitz and Sumners Share Their Wisdom

Last night's meeting of the New Jersey State Bar Association's Appellate Practice Committee featured a guest appearance by Judges Koblitz and Sumners. They took questions and shared advice about appellate...

How to Get Appellate Judges Angry: Attack Their Opinion as Too Concise

New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency v. A.L., 462 N.J. Super. 127 (App. Div. 2020). On October 28, 2019, in a per curiam opinion that can be found...

A Stinging Rebuke to the Board of Immigration Appeals, in an Unusual Three-Judge Concurring Opinion

Quinteros v. Attorney General of the United States of America, ___ F.3d ___ (3d Cir. 2019). This was an immigration appeal. As Judge Roth summarized it in her opinion for...

Since Percocet Had Not Relieved Pain After Years of Use, Compensation Court Properly Denied Worker's Application for Benefits to Allow Continuation of Percocet

Martin v. Newark Public Schools, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2019). [Disclosure: My firm, Lite DePalma Greenberg, LLC, represents Newark Public Schools in certain matters, but had no involvement...

Four More Grants of Certification by the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in four more cases. Two of those are criminal appeals, and of the two civil appeals, one is from a published...

An Assortment of New Cases Get Supreme Court Review

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in four more cases. Three of them involve grants of certification. In the fourth appeal, the Court accepted a certified question...

Mandatory Minimum Prison Term for Driving With a License Suspended After Multiple DWI's is Constitutional

State v. Pimentel, 461 N.J. Super. 468 (App. Div. 2019). N.J.S.A. 2C:40-26 prohibits driving with a license suspended due to a second or subsequent conviction for driving while intoxicated. The...

The Next Third Circuit Judicial Conference Will be May 13-15, 2020 in Philadelphia

The Third Circuit has scheduled the next Third Judicial Conference for May 13-15, 2020 at the Penn's Landing Hilton in Philadelphia. As discussed here, the Court had previously announced a...

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 121314 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…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....