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

Office of Attorney Ethics May Investigate Grievance That District Ethics Committee Had Declined to Docket

Robertelli v. New Jersey Office of Attorney Ethics, 224 N.J. 470 (2016). As today's decision by Chief Justice Rabner describes in exquisite detail, the Supreme Court has established two different...

PERC Cannot Unilaterally Abandon the "Dynamic Status Quo Doctrine"

In re County of Atlantic, 445 N.J. Super. 1 (App. Div. 2016). The Public Employment Relations Commission ("PERC") is a state agency that is charged by the Legislature with implementing...

Attorney General May Not Enforce Subpoenas Related to False Claims Act Case in Which Attorney General Previously Declined to Intervene

In re Enforcement of New Jersey False Claims Act Subpoenas, 444 N.J. Super. 566 (App. Div. 2016). The New Jersey False Claims Act, N.J.S.A. 2A:32C-1 to -15, -17, and -18...

Interlocutory vs. Final Administrative Agency Decisions

Silviera-Francisco v. Elizabeth Bd. of Educ., 224 N.J. 126 (2016). "Whether a trial court order is final or interlocutory has bedeviled courts and attorneys for decades." So said Judge Cuff...

An Anniversary of a Key Prerogative Writs Opinion

Sixty-five years ago today, on November 20, 1950, the Supreme Court decided Fischer v. Bedminster Tp., 5 N.J. 534 (1950). That opinion, written by Justice Heher, contains one of the...

Farmland is Not a "Brownfield," So Application to Construct Solar Facility on Farmland Failed

In re Implementation of L. 2012, c. 24, 443 N.J. Super. 73 (App. Div. 2015). The Solar Act of 2012 ("the Act"), chapter 24 of the Laws of 2012, amended...

Summary Action to "Enforce Agency Orders" Cannot Proceed Where Agency Has Not Ordered Specific Relief

Bacon v. New Jersey State Dep't of Education, 443 N.J. Super. 24 (App. Div. 2015). Many of us know about so-called "Abbott school districts," districts in economically distressed urban areas...

A Controversial Height Variance Falls

Jacoby v. Englewood Cliffs Bd. of Adj., 442 N.J. Super. 450 (App. Div. 2015). At least since North Bergen Action Group v. North Bergen Tp. Planning Bd., 122 N.J. 567...

PERC Has Jurisdiction to Protect Employees' Right to "Assist" Their Unions

In re Probation Ass'n of New Jersey, 442 N.J. Super. 185 (App. Div. 2015). N.J.S.A. 34:13A-5.4(b)(1) prohibits interference with a right guaranteed by the Employer-Employee Relations Act, and the Act...

Tailoring Required: The Appellate Division Reins in Overbroad OPRA Requests

This is a guest post by Jeffrey A. Shooman, my colleague at Lite DePalma Greenberg, LLC. Shipyard Associates, L.P. v. City of Hoboken, 2015 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 2117 (App....

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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....