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

Can a Supreme Court Decision be Non-Binding on Lower Courts Without Being Overruled?

Unlike so many judicial opinions, which leave the reader in suspense about the outcome until the end, the answer to this question, right up front, is "yes." An Appellate Division...

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....

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....

No Regulatory or Common Law Duty for Landlord to Cover Radiator With Insulating Material in Order to Avoid Injury to Tenant

J.H. v. R&M Tagliereni, LLC, 239 N.J. 198 (2019). [There was the potential of a guest post regarding this case, but that did not pan out. That's the reason for...

Retroactive Hiatus

Due to a Supreme Court brief, a major Appellate Division brief, some personal matters, and issues as to the hosting of this blog, there were no postings here for the...

Charitable Immunity Requires That a Non-Religious, Non-Educational Immunity Claimant Receive Some Substantial Percentage of Its Revenue From Charitable Contributions

F.K. v. Integrity House, Inc., 460 N.J. Super. 105 (App. Div. 2019). This charitable immunity case centered on how much in charitable contributions (as opposed to, say, government support) defendant...

A Potentially Pioneering Tort Liability Issue is Left Undecided, Since the Facts Did Not Justify a Verdict for Plaintiffd

G.A.-H. v. K.G.G., 238 N.J. 401 (2019). As noted here, the Supreme Court granted review in this case to address this issue: "Is an individual subject to tort liability for...

Statutory Plain Language Wins the Day for a Survivor Benefit Claimant

S.L.W. v. New Jersey Div. of Pensions & Benefits, 238 N.J. 385 (2019). The statute governing the police and firemen's retirement system ("PFRS") makes children and widowed spouses of police...

A Busy Day for the Appellate Division

On most days, the Appellate Division issues a significant number of opinions. But on many of those days, there are no published opinions among them, or only one or two...

Administrative agency actions Justice Faustino Fernandez-Vina

Certain Underwriters at Lloyds Subscribing to Policy PLH-0013397 v. Public Service Electric and Gas, 459 N.J. Super. 436 (App. Div. 2019). Judge Fisher's opinion in this appeal today was barely...

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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....