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

Assignor's Loss of a Mortgage Note Does Not Preclude Foreclosure by an Assignee

Investors Bank v. Torres, 457 N.J. Super. 53 (App. Div. 2018). In this foreclosure case, the plaintiff bank was the assignee of a note that was secured by a mortgage....

At-Will Employee Cannot Bring Oppressed Shareholder Claim Based on Termination of Employment

Metro Commercial Management Services, Inc. v. Van Istendal, 457 N.J. Super. 66 (App. Div. 2018). This opinion, issued today, is the first published opinion authored by Judge Firko. It involves...

Applying the Statute of Limitations for Foreclosure Cases

Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas v. Weiner, 456 N.J. Super. 546 (App. Div. 2018). Judge Fisher issued this short decision in this case today. The body of the opinion consumes...

Equitable Adoption Doctrine Cannot be Used to Destroy Inheritance Rights

In re Estate of Douglas Castellano and Parentage of Gregory Bock, 456 N.J. Super. 510 (App. Div. 2018). This unusually captioned appeal presented a Chancery issue that was right up...

Halloween: A Not-at-All Spooky Anniversary in Defamation Law

On October 31, 1955, the Supreme Court decided Rainier's Dairies v. Raritan Valley Farms, Inc., 19 N.J. 552 (1955). It was a 6-1 decision, with Justice Jacobs writing for the...

The Supreme Court Will Address "Not Raised Below," and Three Criminal Appeals

The Supreme Court has announced that it has granted certification in three cases, all criminal matters, and that a civil case will be before it on an appeal as of...

A Pinata, A Pole, and an Injury

Piech v. Layendecker, 456 N.J. Super. 367 (App. Div. 2018). This opinion by Judge Fasciale effectively summarizes all the issues, and the result on each issue, in its opening paragraph....

A Banner Day in the Appellate Division for Lite DePalma Greenberg, LLC and Its Clients

Russo v. Friedrich, 2018 WL 4904555 (App. Div. Oct. 10, 2018); City of Newark Public Schools v. OPEIU Local 32, 2018 WL 4905414 (App. Div. Oct. 10, 2018). It's a...

The Supreme Court Adds to Its Criminal Docket (Plus a Tort Case)

The Supreme Court announced today that it has granted review in four more cases. Three of those are criminal appeals. The fourth is a tort case relating to a residential...

Big Pharma Wins in Another Supreme Court Accutane Decision

In re Accutane Litigation, 235 N.J. 229 (2018). [Disclosure: I argued this appeal, together with co-counsel, on behalf of the plaintiffs. The opinions expressed in this post are mine alone,...

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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....