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

A "Must Read" Supreme Court Opinion About Attorney Retainer Agreements

Balducci v. Cige, 240 N.J. 574 (2020). In this case, as discussed here, the Appellate Division invalidated a retainer agreement in an opinion reported at 456 N.J. Super. 219 (App....

"Class of One" Equal Protection Claims by Public Employees Are Not Permitted

DiBuonaventura v. Washington Tp., 462 N.J. Super. 260 (App. Div. 2020). Plaintiff was a police officer in Washington Township, Gloucester County. He made several complaints about the conduct of the...

When Does a Dismissal Preclude a Second Case?

Papera v. Pennsylvania Quarried Bluestone Co., 948 F.3d 607 (3d Cir. 2020). Plaintiffs and defendants reached what was believed to be a settlement of their case. At plaintiffs' request, the...

Counsel Who Represented a State Witness in a Murder Case is Disqualified From Representing the Defendant in That Same Case

State v. Faulcon, 462 N.J. Super. 250 (App. Div. 2020). Judge Koblitz did not leave readers in suspense about the outcome of her opinion for the Appellate Division today. Her...

Where a Tenant is in Sole Possession and Control of a Property, the Landlord Has No Duty to the Tenant's Invitee to Clear Snow and Ice

Shields v. Ramslee Motors, 240 N.J. 479 (2020). The Supreme Court always seems to have a snow and ice removal case on its docket. The latest one resulted in an...

A Party's Trial Testimony by Contemporaneous Video Transmission

Pathri v. Kakarlamath, 462 N.J. Super. 208 (App. Div. 2020). This was a matrimonial matter. Both spouses came to the United States from India. Shortly after plaintiff filed this suit...

52 Years Since a Landmark in Real Estate Brokerage Commission Law

On December 18, 1967, the Supreme Court decided Ellsworth Dobbs, Inc. v. Johnson, 50 N.J. 528 (1967). The Court's 6-0 opinion, authored by Justice Francis, overturned nearly 100 years of...

Parties' Stipulation Waived Right to Appeal

In re Odyssey Contracting Corp., ___ F.3d ___ (3d Cir. 2019). Odyssey Contracting Corp. and L&L Painting Co., Inc., were (respectively) a subcontractor and the prime contractor on a project...

No Personal Jurisdiction Over New York Doctor Who Treated New Jersey Patient Only in New York

Pullen v. Galloway, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2019). This medical malpractice/wrongful death appeal involved the question of whether New Jersey state courts had personal jurisdiction over defendant doctors...

December 4- The Anniversary of One of the Most Influential Supreme Court Dissents Ever

On this date in 1950, the Supreme Court decided Fox v. Snow, 6 N.J. 12 (1950). The case dealt with an estate issue. One party urged the Court to "explicitly...

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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....

"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....