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

The Ninth Anniversary of New Jersey Appellate Law Blog

Today marks the ninth anniversary of this blog. As in past years, my thanks go out to all those who read, comment on, cite, forward, or otherwise make use of...

See the Appellate Division in Action in Woodbury Next Tuesday

Most Appellate Division oral arguments occur in Trenton, Newark, Morristown, and Hackensack, though in recent years, panels have been sitting regularly in places such as Jersey City, New Brunswick, and...

Stays Pending Appeal- An Anniversary

Since this is an appellate law blog, its "anniversary" posts (as well as all or virtually all others) deal with appellate decisions. Today's post is an exception, in that it...

The Supreme Court Restructures Remittitur and Additur

Orientale v. Jennings, 239 N.J. 569 (2019). As Justice Albin's opinion for a unanimous Court today described, remittitur and additur (the ability of a trial judge to reduce or increase...

Busy Days at the Third Circuit, Part 2

Yesterday's post noted that the Third Circuit has published a number of opinions in recent days. Here are summaries of some more of those opinions, all of which emanate from...

Third Circuit Roundup

Even as the Appellate Division wound down the number of its published opinions in the second half of August, the Third Circuit seemed to rev up its publication of opinions....

The Appellate Division Elaborates on the Crowe v. DeGioia Standard for Preliminary Injunctive Relief

Yesterday, in an Order authored by Judge Natali, for himself and Judge Messano, the Appellate Division overturned a preliminary injunction against operation of the New Jersey Medical Aid in Dying...

Appellate Division Roundup

The Appellate Division does not issue many opinions in August, as the judges clean up remaining inventory. But there have been some significant published opinions in the last two weeks....

Peter Phipps is Confirmed for a Seat on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals

The United States Senate this week confirmed Peter Phipps, who currently sits as a District Judge in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, for a...

Traditional Contract Law "Penalty" Clause Analysis Does Not Apply to Matrimonial Settlement Agreements

Holtham v. Lucas, 460 N.J. Super. 308 (App. Div. 2019). As Judge Ostrer noted in the first sentence of his opinion in this case today, "[a]ccording to well-settled contract law,...

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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....