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

The Supreme Court Restructures Remittitur and Additur

Orientale v. Jennings, 239 N.J. 569 (2019). As Justice Albin's opinion for a unanimous Court today described, remittitur and additur (the ability of a trial judge to reduce or increase...

Busy Days at the Third Circuit, Part 2

Yesterday's post noted that the Third Circuit has published a number of opinions in recent days. Here are summaries of some more of those opinions, all of which emanate from...

Third Circuit Roundup

Even as the Appellate Division wound down the number of its published opinions in the second half of August, the Third Circuit seemed to rev up its publication of opinions....

The Appellate Division Elaborates on the Crowe v. DeGioia Standard for Preliminary Injunctive Relief

Yesterday, in an Order authored by Judge Natali, for himself and Judge Messano, the Appellate Division overturned a preliminary injunction against operation of the New Jersey Medical Aid in Dying...

Appellate Division Roundup

The Appellate Division does not issue many opinions in August, as the judges clean up remaining inventory. But there have been some significant published opinions in the last two weeks....

Peter Phipps is Confirmed for a Seat on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals

The United States Senate this week confirmed Peter Phipps, who currently sits as a District Judge in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, for a...

Traditional Contract Law "Penalty" Clause Analysis Does Not Apply to Matrimonial Settlement Agreements

Holtham v. Lucas, 460 N.J. Super. 308 (App. Div. 2019). As Judge Ostrer noted in the first sentence of his opinion in this case today, "[a]ccording to well-settled contract law,...

Judges Susswein and Enright are Promoted to the Appellate Division

In a development foreshadowed by yesterday's issuance of the 2019-2020 General Assignment Order, the Supreme Court today published two orders dated July 8 that appoint Judges Ronald Susswein and Catherine...

The 2019-2020 General Assignment Order

Chief Justice Rabner has issued the general Assignment Order for 2019-2020. It is available here. As occurs every year, the eight Appellate Division Parts have been reshuffled. But some things...

A Busy Few Weeks for the Appellate Division

In the last several weeks, this blog has largely focused on Supreme Court decisions and grants of review. That was not meant to slight the Appellate Division, whose judges have...

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Retired Policeman's Pension Benefits Were Wrongly Paid to His Estranged Spouse Rather Than to His Estate, Where He Had Not Designated Anyone to Receive the Pension Benefit if He Died

Isaac v. Board of Trustees, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). Two kinds of benefits are payable to retired members of the.Police and Firemen's Retirement System ("PFRS"). One is a pension benefit, a part of the member's compensation for past services. Pension benefits go to the person whom the member designates, or to the member's estate if no designation is made. The other is a survivor's benefit, which goes to the member's widow for the duration of his or her widowhood. Former Newark policeman Keith Isaac made no designation as to his pension benefits, though he did list his estranged wife, Roxanne, as his spouse when he filed for retirement. Based on that, Isaac's pension benefits were distributed to Roxanne. Isaac's estate contested that, and today the Supreme Court held that the estate should have gotten the pension monies....

The Supreme Court Clarifies New Jersey's Automobile Exception to the Requirement of a Search Warrant

State v. Fenimore, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). Both the United States and New Jersey Constitutions protect the people against "unreasonable searches and seizures" and prohibit the issuance of search warrants without "probable cause." Both federal and New Jersey law, however, recognize an "automobile exception" to the warrant requirement. But New Jersey's automobile exception is narrower than the federal exception, as the Supreme Court stated in State v. Witt, 223 N.J. 409 (2015). Today, the Supreme Court ruled that the Appellate Division in this case had interpreted Witt too broadly in reversing a Law Division decision to exclude evidence from a warrantless search. The Supreme Court reversed and excluded the evidence....

"Liberal Standards" for Standing "Are Not Equivalent to No Standards At All," the Supreme Court Says

New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers, Inc. v. Ford Motor Co., ___ N.J. ___ (2025). As Justice Pierre-Louis observed in her opinion for a unanimous Court in this case today, New Jersey state courts have long "take[n] a more liberal approach to standing than federal law." But in this appeal, the statute sued upon, the Franchise Practices Act, N.J.S.A. 56:10-1 et seq. ("FPA"), stated that only a "franchisee" could sue its franchisor. Because plaintiff here ("NJCAR") was not a franchisee but an association of franchisees, NJCAR lacked standing to bring a FPA case....

Compassionate Release Act Does Not Require Physical Examination of Inmates Seeking Relief, But Denial of Relief in This Case Was Arbitrary and Capricious

M.R. v. New Jersey Department of Corrections, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). Plaintiff appealed the denial of his petition for release under the Compassionate Release Act, N.J.S.A. 30:4-123.51 ("CRA"). He argued that he had not been physically examined by a physician, and that the statute required a physical examination. The Appellate Division determined that the statute did not require a physical examination and upheld the denial of compassionate release. Today, in a unanimous opinion by Justice Hoffman, the Supreme Court agreed that no physical examination was required, but reversed the denial of compassionate relief as insupportable....