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

"The Unique Facts of This Case" Lead the Supreme Court to Hold That the Defense Was Properly Required to Produce a Certain Affidavit in Reciprocal Discovery

State v. Knight, 257 N.J. 248 (2024). In this opinion by Justice Pierre-Louis today, a unanimous Supreme Court twice stated that the facts of this case were "unique." That is...

Supreme Court Statistics for the 2022-23 Term

What better date to present statistics from the 2022-23 Supreme Court Term than the first working day (for many people) of this new calendar year? And who better to have...

The First Half of August- Supreme Court Decisions in Civil Cases

Following up on yesterday's post regarding criminal appeals decided by the Supreme Court in the first half of August, this post summarizes the Court's decisions in civil cases during that...

The First Half of August- Supreme Court Decisions in Criminal Cases

Due to a combination of factors, there have been no posts on this blog in the first half of August. This post will begin the catch-up process by summarizing the...

"510(k)" Evidence Was Improperly Excluded in Products Liability Matters, Requiring New Trial

Hrymoc v. Ethicon, Inc., 254 N.J. 446 (2023). As explained in more detail here, this was a products liability case involving "pelvic mesh" devices. (Actually, there were two consolidated cases,...

This Week's Supreme Court Decisions

In the last three days, the Supreme Court issued opinions in two criminal cases and one civil appeal. All three decisions were unanimous. Here are summaries of those rulings: State...

Governor Murphy Nominates Michael Noriega to the Supreme Court

Today, Governor Murphy announced his nomination of Michael Noriega to the Supreme Court. He would fill the seat that was vacated when Justice Albin reached the mandatory retirement age of...

Two by Justice Albin

Fowler v. Akzo Nobel Chemicals, Inc., 251 N.J. 300 (2022); Linden Democratic Committee v. City of Linden, 251 N.J. 415 (2022). As Justice Albin's tenure on the Supreme Court nears...

Parties That Behaved Wrongfully Could Not Demand Marketability Discount in Shareholder Buyout Case

Sipko v. Koger, Inc., ___ N.J. ___ (2022). This is the second time that this intra-family business divorce case came before the Supreme Court. The first iteration, which dates back...

In a Closely-Watched Case, Sundiata Acoli Wins Parole by a 3-2 Supreme Court Vote

Acoli v. New Jersey State Parole Bd., ___ N.J. ___ (2022). A 2-1 Appellate Division decision, discussed here, upheld the New Jersey State Parole Board's decision to deny parole to...

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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....