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

Policyholder Loses in the Supreme Court on Claims for Business Interruption Insurance Coverage for COVID-19 Losses

AC Ocean Walk, LLC v. American Guarantee & Liability Ins. Co., 256 N.J. 294 (2024). [Disclosure: I was one of the counsel for United Policyholders, an amicus in support of...

Two Supreme Court Rulings in Criminal Appeals

Yesterday and today each saw a decision by the Supreme Court in criminal matters. Today's ruling in State v. Hill, 256 N.J. 266 (2024), authored by Justice Wainer Apter, involved...

A Patient Safety Act Case for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted leave to appeal in Keyworth v. CareOne at Madison Avenue, a matter that actually involves two consolidated cases. The question presented, as...

An Insurance Rescission Anniversary

On January 16, 1991, the Supreme Court decided Mass. Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Manzo, 122 N.J. 104 (1991). The decision, a unanimous one written by Justice Pollock, addressed "whether...

Prosecution for Terroristic Threats: New Jersey Adopts One Component of U.S. Supreme Court's Counterman v. Colorado Decision, While Diverging as to Another Component

State v. Fair, 256 N.J. 213 (2024). "True threats" fall outside constitutional free speech protections. The issue in this case, in which Justice Wainer Apter wrote a unanimous opinion that...

This Week's Published Opinions

Another week, another week where work for clients made it impossible to keep up with the courts. This week featured two unanimous opinions from the Supreme Court, one civil, one...

Supreme Court Statistics for the 2022-23 Term

What better date to present statistics from the 2022-23 Supreme Court Term than the first working day (for many people) of this new calendar year? And who better to have...

No OPRA or Common Law Access Right to Police Body-Worn Camera Video

Fuster v. Township of Chatham, 477 N.J. Super. 477 (App. Div. 2023). This Open Public Records Act ("OPRA") case implicated not only that statute but the Body Worn camera Law...

The End of Last Week

Even as many people were throttling back in anticipation of the long holiday weekend that culminated in Christmas day, the Appellate Division issued three published opinions late last week. Here...

The 45th Anniversary of Gilborges v. Wallace

On this date in 1978, the Supreme Court decided Gilborges v. Wallace, 78 N.J. 342 (1978). The case arose out of an auto accident that resulted in brain injuries to...

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A Municipal Court Administrator is Employed by the Township, Not the Administrative Office of the Courts

Palmisano v. State of New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). The opening paragraph of Judge Marczyk's opinion for the Appellate Division well encapsulates what the appeal was about and what the result was. "Plaintiff Lindsay Palmisano appeals from the trial court's April 1, 2024 order dismissing her complaint with prejudice against defendant State of New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts and Municipal Division (AOC) pursuant to Rule 4:6-2(e). The primary issue on appeal is whether plaintiff, a municipal court administrator, is an employee of the AOC, thereby allowing her to assert a claim against the AOC under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD), N.J.S.A. 10:5-1 to -49. Based on our review of the record and the applicable legal principles, we conclude plaintiff was employed by Vernon Township (Township), not the AOC, and, therefore, we affirm."...

Supreme Court to Take Up Two Published Appellate Division Opinions

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in two new appeals. One is before the Court on leave to appeal. The Court granted certification in the other matter....

South Seaside Park Can Detach Itself From Berkeley Township

Whiteman v. Township Council of Berkeley Township, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). South Seaside Park is a small (490 year-round residents) barrier island community that has been annexed to the Township of Berkeley ("the Township"). South Seaside Park sought to deannex itself from the Township and to be annexed instead to the Borough of Seaside Park. South Seaside Park followed a statutory petitioning procedure in doing so. The Township refused consent. South Seaside Park went to court and won a ruling from the Law Division that rejected the Township's refusal. The Appellate Division affirmed. Yesterday, in a unanimous opinion by Justice Patterson, the Supreme Court affirmed as well....

Megan's Law "Not Likely to Pose a Threat to the Safety of Others" Extends to Non-Sexual as Well as Sexual Re-Offenses

In re Registrant S.O., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). This appeal presented a pure legal issue relating to the "public safety prongs" contained in the termination provisions of Megan's Law, N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2(f), and the Community Supervision for Life statute ("CSL"), N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6.4(c). Judge Vanek crystallized that "novel" issue as "whether, on a registrant's application to terminate Megan's Law and CSL obligations, the phrase ‘not likely to pose a threat to the safety of others' should be broadly interpreted with the trial court considering threats to safety from subsequent non-sexual and sexual offenses or whether the inquiry should be limited to the threat of sexual re-offense only." The panel held that the broader view was the correct one....