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

More About Notice Under the Municipal Land Use Law

Northgate Condominium Ass'n, Inc. v. Hillsdale Planning Bd., 214 N.J. 120 (2013). Opponents of land use development applications sometimes contest the adequacy of the notice given by development applicants, as occurred in...

The Appellate Division Will Now Strictly Enforce Certain Rules

In a Notice to the Bar, the Appellate Division has announced that, effective July 1, 2013, the Clerk's Office will begin "strictly enforcing" various time limitations and page restrictions of the Court Rules....

The Appellate Division Enforces a Settlement Agreement Between Attorney Litigants

Wolf v. Galex, 2013 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 1053 (App. Div. May 6, 2013). [Dislosure: I am co-counsel for Mr. Wolf in this matter, and I argued this appeal before the Appellate...

The Passive Voice (and Persuasive Legislative History) Makes the Difference in Statutory Interpretation

Cologna v. Board of Trustees, Police & Firemen's Retirement Syst., 430 N.J. Super. 362 (App. Div. 2013). By statute, a former member of the Police and Firemen's Retirement System ("PFRS") normally has two...

Attorneys' Liens

Schepisi & McLaughlin, P.A. v. Lofaro, 430 N.J. Super. 347 (App. Div. 2013). In this decision by Judge Kennedy, the Appellate Division reversed rulings of the Law Division because, among other things, the...

Election Laws Have Flexibility

Regalado v. Curling, 430 N.J. Super. 342 (App. Div. 2013). The lesson of this short opinion by Judge Sapp-Peterson, issued the day after this appeal was orally argued due to the need...

Appellate Division Summer Parts

The list of summer Parts for the Appellate Division was just published and can be viewed here. It is a good thing to keep at hand as needed....

Reading the Plain Language of the Patients First Act

Nicholas v. Mynster, 213 N.J. 463 (2013). Until the advent of the New Jersey Medical Care Access and Responsibility and Patients First Act, codified in part at N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-41, "in medical-malpractice cases, physician experts...

An Important Administrative Law Appeal to the Supreme Court

Sometimes we all fall behind. On March 21, 2013, the Appellate Division decided In re N.J.A.C. 7:1B-1.1 et seq., 431 N.J. Super. 100 (App. Div. March 21, 2013). A coalition of environmental groups...

Grammar and the Municipal Land Use Law

Mahwah Realty Associates, Inc. v. Mahwah Tp., 430 N.J. Super. 247 (App. Div. 2013). This case, in which plaintiffs sought to block development of a health club, has been back and forth to the...

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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....