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

Presence of One Telecommuting Employee in New Jersey Subjects Out-of-State Company to New Jersey Corporation Business Tax

Telebright Corp., Inc. v. Director, New Jersey Div. of Taxation, 424 N.J. Super. 384 (App. Div. 2012). Plaintiff, a Delaware company with offices in Maryland, has an employee who telecommutes from New...

Non-Delegable Duties: Horrific Facts Don't Make New Law

Davis v. Devereux Foundation, 209 N.J. 269 (2012). Under the Restatement of Agency (Second), §219(2)(c), when one has a duty to protect others and delegates that duty to an agent, such as an...

Justice Long Retires

Today, February 29, 2012, was Justice Long's last day on the Supreme Court. She turns 70 years of age tomorrow and, thus, she has reached mandatory retirement age. Justice Long's...

The Effect of the Product Liability Act's Presumption of Labeling Adequacy on the Statute of Limitations in Products Cases

Kendall v. Hoffman-LaRoche, Inc.., 209 N.J. 173 (2012). In this case, the 5-1 majority opinion by Justice Long offers a comprehensive tutorial about New Jersey's "discovery rule," which mitigates the strict statute...

Professional Association Has Standing to Sue on Behalf of Its Members, and Court Would Overlook Procedural Deficiency, But Association Still Loses on the Merits

New Jersey Dental Ass'n v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 424 N.J. Super. 160 (App. Div. 2012). Many cases have rightly held that, under New Jersey's liberal standing rules, organizations have standing to...

Even a Non-Citizen May Change Her Name

In re Application of Xiangjing Zhan, 424 N.J. Super. 231 (App. Div. 2012). A permanent resident alien sought to invoke New Jersey's name change statute, N.J.S.A. 2A:52-1 to -4, to change his...

Abraham Lincoln: "A Lawyer's Word is His Bond"

Today, February 13, 2012, New Jersey's state courts are closed in observance of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln exactly 203 years ago yesterday. Leaving aside a Supreme Court of New Jersey...

Police Officer Who Enters Premises in the Line of Duty is At Least a Licensee, to Whom Landowner Owes a Duty of Care

Rowe v. Mazel Thirty, LLC, 209 N.J. 35 (2012). Plaintiff was a police officer whose duties in a "Safe Streets" program included checking vacant apartment buildings for drugs or other illicit activity. Plaintiff was going down...

Appellate Division Ousts Morris County Freeholder in Resolving Election Dispute

Nordstrom v. Lyon, 424 N.J. Super. 80 (App. Div. 2012). William "Hank" Lyon was a media star last year. In his early 20's, and a newcomer to the political scene, Lyon ran for Morris...

A Rare Opinion Granting a Motion for Summary Disposition

Spinelli v. Echeverry Industries, LLC, 2012 WL 370666 (App. Div. Feb. 7, 2012). Rule 2:8-3 authorizes parties on appeal to move for summary disposition of that appeal at any time....

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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....