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

Use in Summation of a Picture From "The Shining" Takes the Shine Off a Robbery Conviction

State v. Williams, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). In this case, defendant, accused of robbing a bank, was convicted of second degree robbery. That crime requires force or the threat of...

The Supreme Court Will Decide the Constitutional Validity of an Indictment Returned by a Virtual Grand Jury

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in State v. Vega-Larregui. Pursuant to Rule 2:12-1, the Court granted direct certification of a portion of defendant's motion to dismiss...

Gubernatorial Pardon Dissolves Statutory Bar on Expungement of Convictions

In re Petition for Expungement of the Criminal Record Belonging to T.O., ___ N.J. ___ (2021). The first Supreme Court opinion of 2021, issued this morning, was authored by Chief...

The Appellate Division Declines to Follow an Outmoded Errors and Appeals Decision About Age-Related Lay Opinion Testimony

State v. Gerena, 465 N.J. Super. 548 (App. Div. 2021). Defendant was convicted of fourth degree lewdness. A statutory grading element of that offense is that one or more of...

Mistrial In Murder Case Interrupted by COVID-19 Pandemic Was Not an Abuse of Discretion

State v. Smith, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2020). Perhaps fittingly, the final published Appellate Division of 2020, written by Judge Fasciale and issued today, centered on the COVID-19...

A Use Variance Anniversary: Ward v. Scott

On December 15, 1952, the Supreme Court decided Ward v. Scott, 11 N.J. 117 (1952). Though the municipal law applicable at the time that case was decided has largely been...

Two Accelerated Appeals, and Two Others, for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in four new cases. In two of them, the Court set accelerated schedules. The first of those, which involves five consolidated...

The Third Circuit Shoots Down the Trump Campaign's Attack on the Pennsylvania Vote

Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. v. Secretary, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, ___ Fed. Appx. ___ (3d Cir. 2020). This blog does not often cover non-precedential decisions of appellate courts. But...

Parochial School That Fired Pregnant Teacher for Premarital Sex May Have Violated the LAD

Crisitello v. St. Theresa School, 465 N.J. Super. 223 (App. Div. 2020). This decision under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, N.J.S.A. 10:5-1 et seq. ("LAD"), was the second time...

The Attorney General's Directives Regarding Release of Police Officer Disciplinary Information Are Upheld by the Appellate Division

In re AG Law Enforcement Directive Nos. 2020-5 & 2020-6, 465 N.J. Super. 111 (App. Div. 2020). Here is how Judge Accurso began her opinion for the Appellate Division in...

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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....