NJ Appellate Law Blog

Roe v. Wade

Today is the fortieth anniversary of Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973). That decision, written by Justice Blackmun, an appointee of President Nixon, and joined in by Justices as...

Hoffman v. Supplements Togo Settles

As reported here, the Supreme Court of New Jersey previously granted review of Hoffman v. Supplements Togo Management, LLC, 419 N.J. Super. 596 (App. Div. 2011), a putative consumer class action...

Benjamin v. Pennsylvania Dep't of Public Welfare, 701 F.3d 938 (3d Cir. 2012). In this class action brought by persons with mental retardation who reside in intermediate care facilities operated by defendants,...

Party That Filed Multiple Motions in Court Waived Arbitration Clause

Bellevue Drug Co. v. Caremark SPCS, 700 F.3d 109 (3d Cir. 2012). This was an antitrust class action. Plaintiffs, who are retail pharmacy businesses, and defendant, who is a prescription benefits manager for...

Even Under New Jersey State Law, Standing Has Limits

Kaufman v. Allstate New Jersey Ins. Co.., 2012 WL 3870323 (App. Div. Sept. 7, 2012). As discussed here, New Jersey has more liberal rules for standing to sue than do the...

A Mixed Bag on Class Certification From the Third Circuit

Marcus v. BMW of North America, Inc., 687 F.3d 583 (3d Cir. 2012). "Run-flat" tires ("RFT's") are automobile tires that can, as their name implies, continue to run for 50...

A Class Action Settlement Class is Reversed for Lack of Adequate Representation, But the Third Circuit Explains How to Cure the Problem

Dewey v. Volkswagen, A.G., 681 F.3d 170 (3d Cir. 2012). This class action case involved allegations that Volkswagen vehicles had defective sunroofs that allowed water to infiltrate into the interior of the...

The GM Trucks Class Action Case

On this date in 1995, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals decided In re General Motors Corp. Pick-Up Truck Fuel Tank Products Liab. Litig., 55 F.3d 768 (3d Cir. 1995)....

Law of the Case Doctrine Applied in a Complex Class Action

Little v. Kia Motors America, Inc., 425 N.J. Super. 82 (App. Div. 2012). In this consumer class action, which involved alleged defects in Kia automobiles, Judge #1 presided over a classwide jury trial. The...

A Wise Decision on Class Arbitration

Sutter v. Oxford Health Plans, LLC, 675 F.3d 215 (3d Cir. 2012). Decisions in favor of class arbitration may seem to be few and far between these days. But in this case,...

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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....

Class actions