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

Should Two Attorneys be Able to Split an Appellate Oral Argument?

The Supreme Court announced that it is seeking comments on a proposed amendment to Rule 2:11-1(b)(3). That rule, which deals with oral argument in the appellate courts, currently states that...

ACLU v. Hendricks Goes Back to the Secretary of Higher Education to Develop a Full Administrative Record

American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey v. Hendricks, 233 N.J. 181 (2018). In 2016, in a decision reported at 445 N.J. Super. 452 (App. Div. 2016), and discussed here,...

Referring to a Party's Brief Instead of Offering Findings and Conclusions Draws Judge Fuentes's Ire

Estate of Doerfler v. Federal Ins. Co., 454 N.J. Super. 298 (App. Div. 2018). This opinion by Judge Fuentes today is one of the shortest published opinions of the Appellate...

State Agency's "Contumacious" Discovery Failures Over Many Years Called for Dismissal of Agency's License Suspension Proceeding

New Jersey Department of Children & Families v. E.L., 454 N.J. Super. 10 (App. Div. 2018). Courts often give public entity parties more leeway in complying with rules, court orders,...

Some Tips on the Appellate Rules from Judge Messano

State of New Jersey in the Interest of N.P., 453 N.J. Super. 480 (App. Div. 2018). This decision by Judge Messano addresses four appeals involving seven different juveniles. The broad...

Fictitious Party ("John Doe") Pleading, and Deadlines to Seek Dismissal Based on Statute of Limitations

Baez v. Paulo, 453 N.J. Super. 422 (App. Div. 2018). This was a medical malpractice/wrongful death case. The Law Division had precluded plaintiff from adding three doctors as defendants after...

The Last Few Weeks, Part 1

Due to an unusual amount of business travel (alas, only to three cold-weather locations) and a hefty appellate brief, I have not been able to keep up with the courts...

The Last Few Weeks, Part 2

Last week, the Supreme Court announced that it had granted certification in five more cases. Three of them are criminal appeals, one involves additur after a jury verdict, and one...

Foreclosure Defendant May Not Fail to Pursue a Germane Defense and Then Sue for Fraud by Foreclosure

Adelman v. BSI Fin. Services, 453 N.J. Super. 31 (App. Div. 2018). This case, which was the subject of Judge Koblitz's decision today, arose out of a foreclosure action. Plaintiff,...

Failure to Submit Affidavit of Merit Timely Does Not Always Call for Dismissal With Prejudice

A.T v. M. Cohen, M.D., 231 N.J. 237 (2017). "This was an appeal as of right in a medical malpractice case in which plaintiff was a minor. Due to counsel's...

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No Ethics Violation in Attorney Purchasing Another Attorney's Name as a Keyword for Internet Searches, the Supreme Court Says, With a Caveat

In re Opinion No. 735 of the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). [Disclosure: I represented an amicus curiae in this appeal]. As Justice Noriega said in his opinion for a 5-1 majority (Justice Pierre-Louis did not participate), this appeal "presents the narrow question of whether it is permissible under the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) for an attorney or law firm to purchase a competing attorney's or law firm's name as a keyword." The Court found it permissible, with a caveat. Justice Fasciale dissented....

Four Criminal Law Cases, and a Qui Tam Appeal, for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced today that it has granted review in five new appeals. One of them is before the Court on leave to appeal, while in the others the Court granted certification....

The "Limited Attorney Exemption" of the Debt Adjustment and Credit Counseling Act is Held Unconstitutional as Violative of the Separation of Powers and Void for Vagueness

Anchor Law Firm, PLLC v. State of New Jersey, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). The Debt Adjustment and Credit Counseling Act, N.J.S.A. 17:16G-1 et seq. ("DACCA"), prohibits debt adjusters in New Jersey from operating for a profit. There is an exception for attorneys not "principally engaged" (a term not defined in the statute) in debt adjustment. That exception, adopted in a 1986 amendment, replaced a prior version of the DACCA that had exempted all attorneys from its scope....

Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week: Where a Party Files a Suit Alleged to Violate the UPEPA But Quickly Dismisses It, Can Defendants Then Get Counsel Fees Under the Statute?

On May 15, judges on Part C of the Appellate Division will hear oral argument in Satz v. Keshet Starr. Plaintiff, acting pro se, filed a defamation suit against defendants. Defendants filed an o order to show cause to dismiss the case and for attorneys' fees under the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act, N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-49 et seq. ("UPEPA"). The UPEPA, enacted in 2023, sought to make it more difficult to use the legal system as a weapon to bully individuals into silence by filing what have been known as SLAPP ("strategic lawsuits against public participation") suits....