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

January, So Far

With the coming of the new year, this blog went onto a new platform. That fact, along with a Supreme Court oral argument and a Committee on Character hearing last week, has left this blog behind as 2025 begins. Our appellate courts, however, have been active. Here are summaries of their January 2025 published opinions to date:...

Two Constitutional Law Decisions From the Appellate Division

State v. Higginbotham, 475 N.J. Super. 205 (App. Div. 2023); In re Appeal of Denial of M.U.'s Application for a Handgun Purchase Permit, 475 N.J. Super. 148 (App. Div. 2023)....

Judge Smith Discusses When the Third Circuit Will Certify a Question to a State's Highest Court

United States v. Defreitas, ___ F.4th ___ (3d Cir. 2022). This case came out of the Virgin Islands. Its subject matter was the conviction of defendant, an enforcement officer for...

Three More Supreme Court Grants of Certification

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in three more cases. Two of them are criminal matters. The third addresses labor and constitutional law issues. The labor appeal...

The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association and a Landmark Decision in Constitutional Law

Forty years ago today, the Supreme Court decided State v. Celmer, 80 N.J. 405 (1979), a case that arose out of he conviction of defendant on charges of DWI, speeding,...

Insubstantial Constitutional Issues Don't Afford an Appeal to the Supreme Court as of Right

On this date in 1965, the Supreme Court decided Tidewater Oil Co. v. Mayor & Council of Borough of Carteret, 44 N.J. 338 (1965), a municipal land use case. That...

Allocation Among Multiple Defendants of Attorneys' Fees Under Fee-Shifting Statutes

Empower our Neighborhoods v. Guadagno, 453 N.J. Super. 565 (App. Div. 2018). This was an election case under the federal and New Jersey civil rights acts, both of which provide...

The Supreme Court Grants Review in Five More Cases

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in five more cases. One of those is a land use matter. The other four run the gamut from administrative law...

Correctional Facility Did Not Improperly Discriminate Against Muslim Officer in Denying Her the Right to Wear Religious Headgear

Tisby v. Camden Cty. Correctional Facility, 448 N.J. Super. 241 (App. Div. 2017). Plaintiff, a corrections officer at the defendant correctional facility("CCCF") since 2002, became a Muslim in 2015. She...

Another Child Abuse and Neglect Case, and a Criminal Case With Constitutional Law Issues, Will be Before the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced today that it has granted review in two new cases. The first, New Jersey Division of Child Protection & Permanency v. A.B., is before the Court...

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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....