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

The Passive Voice (and Persuasive Legislative History) Makes the Difference in Statutory Interpretation

Cologna v. Board of Trustees, Police & Firemen's Retirement Syst., 430 N.J. Super. 362 (App. Div. 2013). By statute, a former member of the Police and Firemen's Retirement System ("PFRS") normally has two...

Grammar and the Municipal Land Use Law

Mahwah Realty Associates, Inc. v. Mahwah Tp., 430 N.J. Super. 247 (App. Div. 2013). This case, in which plaintiffs sought to block development of a health club, has been back and forth to the...

Interpreting an Indemnification Clause Cannot "Make a Fortress Out of The Elements of Style"

Sayles v. G&G Hotels, Inc., 429 N.J. Super. 266 (App. Div. 2013). This case involved the interpretation of an indemnification clause. In his opinion for the panel, Judge Fisher unpacked a "complex" provision...

A "Tense" Decision

Santos-Reyes v. United States, 660 F.3d 196 (3d Cir. 2011). Under 8 U.S.C. §1229b(a), an alien who could otherwise be deported from the United States can have the deportation cancelled if the...

"In the Courts of New Jersey" vs. "Of the Courts of New Jersey"

State of New Jersey v. Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., 640 F.3d 545 (3d Cir. 2011). Does a forum selection clause providing that "exclusive jurisdiction … shall lie in the appropriate courts...

"Shall" We? Is it "Necessary"?

In re State Bd. of Education's Denial of Petition to Adopt Regulations Implementing the New Jersey High School Voter Registration Law, 2011 WL 1529734 (App. Div. 2011). Public interest organizations submitted a...

"The" vs. "A"

New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Group/Garrison Lange v. Holger Trucking Corp., 417 N.J. Super. 393 (App. Div. 2011). "N.J.S.A. 39:6A-9.1 requires that an insurer, which has provided personal injury protection (PIP) benefits, must...

Four New Criminal Appeals, and a Lone Civil Matter, for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in five new appeals. Four of them are criminal cases and one is a civil appeal....

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....