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

New Cases for the Supreme Court Involving the Tort Claims Act, Palimony and the Statute of Frauds, the "Three Strikes Law," and the "Ministerial Exception" of the First Amendment

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in four new cases. One of those appeals is from a published opinion of the Appellate Division. The others involve unpublished...

Strickland/Fritz Test for Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Applies to Sexually Violent Predators Act Civil Commitment Proceedings

In re Civil Commitment of J.S., SVP 24-99, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). Judge Mawla issued this opinion for the Appellate Division today. It involved an appeal from...

Two New Supreme Court Cases: A Direct Certification and an Appeal as of Right

The Supreme Court announced today that two more cases have been added to its docket. In one of them, the Court granted direct certification and ordered an accelerated schedule. The...

Virtual Grand Juries During the COVID-19 Pandemic Are Constitutional

State v. Vega-Larregui, 246 N.J. 94 (2021). The Supreme Court today unanimously ruled that virtual grand juries, a step occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, are constitutional. The Court's opinion, written...

A "Miranda Warnings" Case and a "New Business Rule" Case for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in two new cases. One of them implicates the warnings required under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966). The other...

A Bountiful Harvest for the Supreme Court: Seven New Cases

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in seven more cases. One of those, the only civil case, is before the Court on leave to appeal, while the...

Justice Pierre-Louis's First Opinion for the Court

State v. Outland, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). This unanimous ruling was the first opinion authored by Justice Pierre-Louis. It was a robbery case in which defendant, who had a prior...

Last Week

Late last week, the Supreme Court and the Appellate Division each issued two published opinions. Neither court has issued any published opinions this week (nor is either court slated to...

Some Criminal Defendants Detained Pre-Trial Can Reopen Their Detention Hearings, the Supreme Court Says

In re Request to Release Certain Pretrial Detainees, 245 N.J. 218 (2021). This matter arose out of a motion filed by the Office of the Public Defender and the American...

A Distraint Anniversary

On this date in 1983, a unanimous Supreme Court decided Callen v. Sherman's, Inc., 92 N.J. 114 (1983). The case involved whether distraint, a procedure that allowed commercial landlords to...

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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....