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

The Legislative Veto Cases

On this date in 1982, the Supreme Court of New Jersey decided two of the landmark separation of powers cases in New Jersey jurisprudence. The first case was General Assembly...

Latest U.S. Supreme Court Decision on Personal Jurisdiction is a New Jersey Case

J. McIntyre Machinery, Ltd. v. Nicastro, 131 U.S. 2780 (2011). Lawyers and judges sometimes refer to new cases that grow out of an older, seminal case as the "progeny" of...

A Rarity: The Supreme Court Will Answer Questions Certified to it by the Third Circuit

Rules 2:12A-1 et seq. provide a procedure under which the Third Circuit Court of Appeals can certify a question of law to the Supreme Court of New Jersey "if the...

It's Now "Justice Patterson"

Yesterday, by a 36-0 vote, the Senate rightly confirmed Anne Patterson as a Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. She will assume the seat now held by Justice Rivera-Soto when...

An Item of Great Personal Pride… With a (Tenuous) Connection to the Supreme Court

Last night, my family and I had the tremendous pleasure of attending the high school graduation of my nephew, for whom my wife and I are also godparents. My nephew was the salutatorian, and gave a well-received...

An Editorial: The Senate Should Approve the Nomination of Anne Patterson to the Supreme Court

Governor Christie's nomination of Anne Patterson to fill the seat that will soon be vacated by Justice Rivera-Soto won the approval of the Senate Judiciary Committee this week by a vote...

Abbott v. Burke XXI (or is it XXII?)- Lots of Appellate Practice Issues

Abbott v. Burke, 206 N.J. 332 (2011). The merits of this latest decision on the funding necessary to satisfy the mandate of article VIII, section 4, paragraph 1 of the New...

1968: The Year of the "Discovery Rule"

The Supreme Court of New Jersey decided several cases in 1968 that began the expansion of the discovery rule in New Jersey. On this date, the Court decided Diamond v. New...

The Best Paragraph Ever from the Supreme Court of New Jersey

Today is the anniversary of New Jersey Ass'n for Retarded Citizens v. New Jersey Dep't of Human Services, 89 N.J. 234 (1982). That case was an action on behalf of retarded...

An Anniversary in the Law of Sidewalk Liability

For many years, New Jersey followed the rule that an abutting property owner, even a commercial property owner, could not be liable for injuries suffered by a pedestrian on a defective or...

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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....