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

Closed Case Can't be Reopened Sua Sponte

New Jersey Div. of Youth & Family Services v. J.D., 417 N.J. Super. 1 (App. Div. 2010). In this child custody matter, the trial court reopened its decision in the...

Never Attach Documents to a Brief!

Muracco v. Township of Washington, 2010 WL 5376867 (App. Div. Nov. 16, 2010). Courts have repeatedly made clear that documents cannot be attached to a brief, but must be appended...

Abuse of Discretion Standard

Lucante v. Lucante, 2010 WL 4570211 (App. Div. Nov. 15, 2010). This opinion contains a lengthy discussion of the concept of abuse of discretion. There are a number of useful...

Cite the Record!

Motley v. Division of State Police, 2010 WL 4621498 (App. Div. Nov. 15, 2010). In this appeal of the pre-trial dismissal of a CEPA case, the Appellate Division found itself...

If You Don't List It in Your Notice of Appeal, It's Not on Appeal

Onuigbo v. American Export Lines, 2011 WL 13762 (App. Div. Nov. 1, 2010). A lawyer would not, or should not, have had happen what occurred here, since appellate lawyers know...

A Plug for the Appellate Pro Bono Civil Pilot Program

Baptiste v. Baptiste, 2010 WL 5395803 (App. Div. Oct. 29, 2010). In this otherwise run-of-the-mill appeal, the Appellate Division thanked a private lawyer for appearing with plaintiff at oral argument...

Sometimes an Agency is Wrong

n re Hearn, 417 N.J. Super. 289 (App. Div. 2010). In this published opinion by Judge Ashrafi, the Appellate Division recognized that it gives deference to an agency's view of its own...

Interlocutory vs. Final in the Foreclosure Context

Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Garner, 416 N.J. Super. 520 (App. Div. 2010). In this opinion by Judge Koblitz, the Appellate Division declared that a purported appeal from a grant...

Don't Make the Court Ask You Twice

Fletcher v. Camden County Prosecutor's Office, 2010 WL 4226150 (App. Div. Oct. 27, 2010). In this appeal from a summary judgment, the Appellate Division questioned whether the appellate record was...

Diluting the Right to Oral Argument on Trial Level Motions

Abulkhair v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 2010 WL 4226222 (App. Div. Oct. 27, 2010). Here, a party's notice of motion in the Law Division requested oral argument only if there...

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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....