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

Cornett v. Johnson & Johnson: A Fact-Specific Decision on Statute of Limitations, But Largely an Affirmance of the Ruling Below That Some of Plaintiffs' Claims are Not Pre-Empted

Cornett v. Johnson & Johnson, 211 N.J. 362 (2012). This is a long-awaited decision in the tort/medical device realm, involving as it does the issues of choice of law for statute...

Administrative Regulation Was Not Authorized by Statute, and Thus Could Not Bar Tuition Aid Grant to U.S. Citizen Whose Parents Are Not Legal New Jersey Residents

A.Z. v. Higher Education Student Assistance Authority, 427 N.J. Super. 389 (App. Div. 2012). As this opinion by Judge Ostrer describes, though administrative agency regulations are entitled to a presumption...

Supreme Court Affirms Appellate Division's Rejection of Suit Challenging "Kyleigh's Law"

Trautmann v. Christie, 211 N.J. 300 (2012). "Kyleigh's Law" requires teenage drivers to place an identifying marker on their cars. That law displeased some, particularly the affected drivers and their...

Employee Cannot Sue Employer's Worker's Compensation Carrier for Pain and Suffering Caused by Carrier's Delay in Paying Benefits

Stancil v. ACE USA, ___ N.J. ___ (2012). "In this matter, we are asked to create a common law cause of action that would permit an injured employee, who is...

No Emotional Distress Damages for Witnessing Death of Pet

McDougall v. Lamm, 211 N.J. 203 (2012). In Portee v. Jaffee, 84 N.J. 88 (1980), the Supreme Court established limited circumstances under which a person who observes the negligently-caused death...

Rutgers Violated Open Public Meetings Act in Some Respects, But That Statute Gave Plaintiff No Remedy

McGovern v. Rutgers, The State University, 211 N.J. 94 (2012). Plaintiff complained that the Board of Governors of Rutgers, The State University, violated the Open Public Meetings Act, N.J.S.A. 10:4-6...

Foreign Citizen Whose Admission to the United States Limits Him to a Single Employer is Not "Available for Work" and Eligible for Unemployment Benefits When That Employer Discharges Him

Makutoff v. Board of Review, 427 N.J. Super. 218 (App. Div. 2012). Plaintiff, a Canadian citizen, was employed in this country under a limited work authorization issued by the Department...

Sales Taxes Under the Bankruptcy Code: A Fascinating, and Difficult, Issue of Statutory Interpretation

In re Michael Calabrese, Jr., 689 F.3d 312 (3d Cir. 2012). Most issues of statutory interpretation can be resolved either by the plain language of the statute, by an analysis of...

Can an Insurer, Suspicious of Insurance Fraud, Require Health Providers Who Seek Reimbursement from the Insurer, to Supply Information About Their Ownership Structure and Billing Practices?

Selective Ins. Co. v. Hudson East Pain Management, 210 N.J. 597 (2012). Defendants provided medical treatment to patients who had personal injury protection ("PIP") insurance through plaintiff ("Selective"). The patients assigned their right to...

N.J.S.A. 30:4-24.3 Does Not Allow a Developmentally Disabled Resident of a State Facility to Get Around Open Public Records Act Rules for Disclosure

Caliendo v. Velez, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2012). N.J.A.C. 10:41-3.2(b) is a Department of Human Services regulation that provides that incident reports prepared by the Division of Developmental...

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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....