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

Where a Shopping Center Lease Requires the Landlord to Maintain the Parking Lot, a Tenant is Normally Not Liable to a Patron Injured in That Lot

Kandrac v. Marrazzo's Market at Robbinsiville, 429 N.J. Super. 79 (App. Div. 2012). "[A]s a general rule, when a commercial tenant in a multi-tenant shopping center has no control or contractual obligation...

Supreme Court Will Review O'Boyle v. Longport

The Supreme Court announced yesterday that it has granted certification to review O'Boyle v. Borough of Longport, 426 N.J. Super. 1 (App. Div. 2012), an Open Public Records Act case. The Appellate Division's...

Firing Alcoholic Employee for Failing Random Alcohol Test Required Only of Alcoholics, Where No Issue of Job Performance was Raised, Could Violate NJLAD

A.D.P. v. ExxonMobil Research & Eng. Co., 428 N.J. Super. 518 (App. Div. 2012). Plaintiff had worked for defendant ("Exxon") for over 29 years. Exxon required her to sign an agreement that...

Department of Education Cap on School Superintendent Salary is Valid

New Jersey Ass'n of School Administrators v. Cerf, 428 N.J. Super. 588 (App. Div. 2012). To help reduce property taxes by limiting school district spending, the Department of Education approved, by rule,...

"Affirmed by an Equally Divided Court"

In re Parentage of a Child by T.J.S. and A.L.S., 212 N.J. 334 (2012). As summarized in the syllabus (a convenient but admittedly not authoritative source), the issue was "whether the New Jersey...

"Egregious Fault" by Spouse May Bar Any Award of Alimony

Clark v. Clark, 429 N.J. Super. 61 (App. Div. 2012). Generally, "marital fault is irrelevant" to a determination of alimony. However, in Mani v. Mani, 183 N.J. 70 (2005), the Supreme Court recognized...

No Declaration of Taking in Condemnation Matter? No Taking Occurred

Hoagland v. City of Long Branch, 428 N.J. Super. 321 (App. Div. 2012). Plaintiffs owned property in Long Branch as to which the City of Long Branch instituted condemnation proceedings. After...

A New COAH Abolition Appeal for the Supreme Court

On July 6, 2012, the Supreme Court granted review of In re Plan for the Abolition of the Council on Affordable Housing, 424 N.J. Super. 410 (App. Div. 2012), a...

Girls in Little League

On this date in 1974, with a one-sentence summary affirmance of the Appellate Division, the Supreme Court upheld a ruling that Little League Baseball, Inc. had to admit girls aged...

Motion to Vacate Foreclosure Judgment for Lack of Standing by Plaintiff Came Too Late

Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas v. Angeles, 428 N.J. Super. 315 (App. Div. 2012). In this foreclosure case, defendant tried to argue that because his mortgage was not assigned 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....