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

Veil-Piercing Can Apply to Limited Partnerships

Canter v. Lakewood of Voorhees, 420 N.J. Super. 508 (App. Div. 2011). Under cases such as State v. Ventron, 94 N.J. 473 (1983), a court may, in proper circumstances, "pierce the...

Homeowner Can Sue Building Contractor for Consumer Fraud Even Where Homeowner Has Acted as His Own General Contractor

Murnane v. Finch Landscaping, LLC, 420 N.J. Super. 331 (App. Div. 2011). Does the fact that a homeowner acts as his own general contractor in dealing with multiple contractors on...

Appellate Jurisdiction and the Duty of Candor to the Court– All in a Four-Page Opinion

K.L.G. v. D.M.., 2011 WL 2321404 (App. Div. June 29, 2011). Rule 2:9-1(a) provides that once a notice of appeal is filed, "supervision and control" of the case pass to the...

Defendant's Membership in New Jersey-Based Cooperative Does Not Confer General Jurisdiction

Mische v. Bracey's Supermarket, 420 N.J. Super. 487 (App. Div. 2011). The requirements for personal jurisdiction over a defendant are fairly well-settled, but sometimes challenging to apply. Judge Skillman's opinion in...

Dubious Legislation

On June 20, Assemblymen Gary Chiusano (R-24th Dist.) and John Wisniewski (D-19th Dist.) introduced Assembly Bill 4135. That legislation would make appealable to the Appellate Division as of right, instead of on an...

The Supreme Court Discusses, for the First Time, Two Exceptions to the Open Public Records Act

Kovalcik v. Somerset County Prosecutor's Office, 206 N.J. 581 (2011). The Open Public Records Act, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 to -13 ("OPRA"), makes "government records," as broadly defined in OPRA, generally accessible. However, the right of access...

Bailment, Not Replevin, is The Potential Cause of Action When Seeking Return of Property Validly Seized and Retained by the State

Voellinger v. Dow, 420 N.J. Super. 480 (App. Div. 2011). In this case, the State seized property pursuant to a valid warrant in 1985. Not until 2007, when the property became potentially...

Improper Remarks in Trial Summation Warranted New Trial on Damages Only

Risko v. Thompson Muller Automotive Group, Inc., 206 N.J. 506 (2011). This case came to the Supreme Court because of improper remarks made by plaintiff's counsel in his trial summation....

Municipal Land Use Notice That Described Size of Large Retail Store Need Not Have Stated That Store Was a Wal-Mart

Shakoor Supermarkets, Inc. v. Old Bridge Tp. Planning Bd., 420 N.J. Super. 193 (App. Div. 2011). This case dealt with the issue of how specific a public notice of a development...

Judge Stern Retires

Last night, I attended the retirement dinner for Judge Stern, who turned 70 last week. Among the over 300 attendees were current and former Supreme Court Justices, sitting and retired...

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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....