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

The Supreme Court in the Second Half of November

After a first half of November with no Supreme Court opinions, the Court issued five opinions in the second half. Two of those decisions were discussed here and here. This...

Trial Judges Have Discretion in What Order to Address Suppression Motions in the Family Part or Waivers to the Criminal Part in Criminal Cases Involving Juveniles Sought to be Tried as Adults

State ex rel. E.S., 252 N.J. 331 (2022). As discussed here, last year the Appellate Division addressed the "unsettled" question of which should come first in a criminal case involving a...

Admitted Violation of Defendant's Miranda Rights, Which is Presumed to be Harmful Error, Was Not Harmless in This Case

State v. Wade, 252 N.J. 209 (2022). As Justice Solomon said in his unanimous opinion for the Supreme Court today in this murder case, New Jersey courts "rarely find an...

Three New Supreme Court Grants of Review

The Supreme Court announced that it will consider three new matters. Two of those involved grants of certification, while the third was an appeal as of right. The appeal as...

New Jersey's Liberal Interpretation of Election Laws Has Benefited Both Parties

Today is Election Day. In many jurisdictions, litigation efforts to restrict voting or voter choice are already underway and more litigation is being threatened. New Jersey's Supreme Court, however, has...

A Jury Trial (Or, Rather, a Non-Jury Trial) Anniversary

On November 1, 1948, the Supreme Court decided Ebling Brewing Co. v. Heirloom, Inc., 1 N.J. 71 (1948). The appeal complained of the Chancery Court's appointment of a receiver for...

"The Future of Court Operations- Updates to In-Person and Virtual Court Events"

Chief Justice Rabner issued an Order titled as above yesterday. The full Order is available here. The Order supersedes the Court's November 18, 2021 Order regarding in-person versus virtual proceedings....

The First Supreme Court Opinion of the Current Term

Dennehy v. East Windsor Regional Bd. of Educ., 252 N.J. 201 (2022). As discussed here, this case involved an injury to a high school field hockey player at an informal...

Judge Fisher Returns to the Appellate Division, and Judge Sumners is Named Acting Deputy Presiding Judge for Administration

With the swearing in of newly-confirmed Justices Fasciale and Wainer Apter, there are now six Justices on the Supreme Court. One seat, left vacant when Justice Albin retired this summer,...

Does Criminal Liability for "Bribery in Official and Political Matters" Attach to a Candidate Who is Not an Incumbent and Does Not Win Election? The Supreme Court Will Decide

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in State v. O'Donnell. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk's office, is "Does N.J.S.A. 2C:27-2, which imposes...

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 141516 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99…Last

"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....