NJ Appellate Law Blog

Plaintiffs Can Seek to Be Accompanied to a Defense Medical Examination by a Third Person or to Record the Examination, and (Contrary to the Appellate Division) Plaintiffs Do Not Bear the Burden of Pro

DiFiore v. Pezic, 254 N.J. 212 (2023). [Disclosure: Catherine B. Derenze, my colleague at Lite DePalma Greenberg & Afanador, LLC, argued before the Supreme Court in this case on behalf...

Two Law Against Discrimination Decisions by the Appellate Division

Beneduci v. Graham Curtin P.A., 476 N.J. Super. 73 (App. Div. 2023); Guzman v. M. Texeira Int'l, Inc., 476 N.J. Super. 64 (App. Div. 2023). The Appellate Division issued two...

School Board Has No Duty to Notify Tenured Full-Time Teachers Who Seek to Move to Part-Time That They May Lose Tenure Rights, But Boards are "Encourage[d]" To Do So

Parsells v. Somerville Bd. of Educ., 254 N.J. 152 (2023). Justice Fasciale wrote the Court's unanimous opinion in this case today. Plaintiff lost on the legal issue that prompted the...

Resolution of the "Borrowed Employee" Issue under Galvao v. G.R. Robert Construction Co. is For the Jury, Not a Judge

Pantano v. New York Shipping Ass'n, 254 N.J. 101 (2023). Judge Sabatino wrote this 6-0 opinion, which involved "the application of the multi-factor test [the Court] announced in Galvao v....

The Status of Real Estate Salespeople, and an Encore Sexual Assualt Survivor Protection Act Case, for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in two new cases. In Kennedy v. Weichert Co., where the Court granted leave to appeal, the question presented, as phrased...

The Anniversary of the Abrogation of Interspousal Tort Immunity: Merenoff v. Merenoff

On June 1, 1978, the Supreme Court decided Merenoff v. Merenoff, 76 N.J. 535 (1978). Involving two cases, Justice Handler's unanimous opinion for the Supreme Court addressed "the issue of...

No Need for Attorney Retainer Agreements to State Expressly That Billing Will be in Tenths of an Hour or Other Increments

Arbus, Maybruch & Goode, LLC v. Cohen, 475 N.J. Super. 509 (App. Div. 2023). In this suit by a law firm to collect its fee from a client (actually, an...

Two Arbitration-Related Appeals for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in two new appeals. Those cases each involve arbitration, though in differing respects. In County of Passaic v. Horizon Healthcare Services...

A Class Action Waiver is Unenforceable Absent a Mandatory Arbitration Provision

Pace v. Hamilton Cove, 475 N.J. Super. 568 (App. Div. 2023). Class action waivers have infested numerous areas of our commercial lives, including cellphone contracts, banking agreements, and other documents...

When You're Not Reading This Blog …

Joe Fischetti is an attorney who practiced at one of New Jersey's largest private firms for a number of years. More recently, he moved to an in-house position in the...

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Two Criminal Appeals and Two Eminent Domain Cases for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in four new cases. Two of them are criminal matters. The other two involve eminent domain issues. One of the criminal appeals is before the Court on leave to appeal, the second grant of leave to appeal in the current Term. The Court granted certification in the other three matters....

Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week: Can the Borough of Caldwell Recoup Payment for Professional Services That it Previously Made?

Tomorrow, September 11, a panel of judges on the Appellate Division's Part B will hear oral argument in Borough of Caldwell v. Cozzarelli-Cirminiello Architects, LLC. The case is before the Appellate Division following the grant of defendant's motion for leave to appeal the denial of its motion to dismiss the Complaint....

The First Published Appellate Division Opinion of the 2025-26 Term

Alcantara v. Moro, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). Judge Smith authored this opinion for the Appellate Division, that court's first published opinion of the new Term. The appeal was from a final decision of the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education that the School Funding Reform Act, N.J.S.A. 8A:7F-43 et seq. ("SFRA"), was constitutional as applied to the Township of Lakewood....

The First Supreme Court Grant of Review in the 2025-26 Term

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted leave to appeal in State v. Caneiro, a quadruple homicide case. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk's office, is "Under the circumstances presented, where defendant's house was on fire, was the warrantless seizure of evidence from the garage justified under the exigent circumstances exception to the warrant requirement?"...