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

A Pro Se Prisoner Invalidates the Department of Corrections's Outbound Calling Policy, But …

Grimes v. New Jersey Dep't of Corrections, 452 N.J. Super. 396 (App. Div. 2017). This appeal, decided today, had two unusual wrinkles, apart from its substantive outcome. First, a pro...

Judge Michael Patrick King (1935-2017)

Judge Michael Patrick King, one of the longest-serving members of the Appellate Division, died on November 25, as was revealed publicly today here. A graduate of Fordham University and the...

Appellate Division Statistics for the 2016-17 Term

At last night's New Jersey State Bar Association Appellate Practice Committee meeting, statistics from the 2016-17 Term of the Appellate Division were presented. Many of them are substantially similar to...

Appellate Court's View That Merits of a Case Are Weak Does Not Justify Abandoning Deferential Standard of Review of Trial Level Discovery Rulings

Capital Health System, Inc. v. Horizon Healthcare Services, Inc., 230 N.J. 73 (2017). These two consolidated cases involved rulings on discovery disputes, a subject that rarely reaches the Supreme Court....

The General Assignment Order for 2017-18

Today, the 2017-18 General Assignment Order issued by Chief Justice Rabner was published. It is available here. Judge Messano continues as Presiding Judge for Administration, and Judge Sabatino remains the...

"The Record on Appeal" at the NJSBA Annual Meeting

Today's seminar, which was sponsored by the NJSBA Appellate Practice Committee, took up the important topic of the record on appeal. Judge Messano, who headed up the panel, began by...

A Relatively Rare Exercise of Original Jurisdiction by the Appellate Division

Royal Tax Lien Services, LLC v. Shuaib, 2017 WL 1955269 (App. Div. May 11, 2017). Rule 2:10-5 authorizes an appellate court to exercise "such original jurisdiction as is necessary to...

"Summertime, Summertime, Sum-, Sum-, Summertime" in the Appellate Division

The Appellate Division schedule of Parts for the period June 19 through September 13 was published today and is available here. As usual, no judge is on duty for more...

"Technology" is the Key Word at the Third Circuit Judicial Conference

In this electronic age, technology is everywhere. So it was perhaps inevitable, and welcome to most, that the common thread running through much of the Third Circuit Judicial Conference, which...

Reinforcements for the Appellate Division

Due to a major of my own in a mass tort case on Tuesday of this week, I missed the announcement that five trial level judges are receiving additional temporary...

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 202122 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44…Last

The Supreme Court Clarifies New Jersey's Automobile Exception to the Requirement of a Search Warrant

State v. Fenimore, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). Both the United States and New Jersey Constitutions protect the people against "unreasonable searches and seizures" and prohibit the issuance of search warrants without "probable cause." Both federal and New Jersey law, however, recognize an "automobile exception" to the warrant requirement. But New Jersey's automobile exception is narrower than the federal exception, as the Supreme Court stated in State v. Witt, 223 N.J. 409 (2015). Today, the Supreme Court ruled that the Appellate Division in this case had interpreted Witt too broadly in reversing a Law Division decision to exclude evidence from a warrantless search. The Supreme Court reversed and excluded the evidence....

"Liberal Standards" for Standing "Are Not Equivalent to No Standards At All," the Supreme Court Says

New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers, Inc. v. Ford Motor Co., ___ N.J. ___ (2025). As Justice Pierre-Louis observed in her opinion for a unanimous Court in this case today, New Jersey state courts have long "take[n] a more liberal approach to standing than federal law." But in this appeal, the statute sued upon, the Franchise Practices Act, N.J.S.A. 56:10-1 et seq. ("FPA"), stated that only a "franchisee" could sue its franchisor. Because plaintiff here ("NJCAR") was not a franchisee but an association of franchisees, NJCAR lacked standing to bring a FPA case....

Compassionate Release Act Does Not Require Physical Examination of Inmates Seeking Relief, But Denial of Relief in This Case Was Arbitrary and Capricious

M.R. v. New Jersey Department of Corrections, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). Plaintiff appealed the denial of his petition for release under the Compassionate Release Act, N.J.S.A. 30:4-123.51 ("CRA"). He argued that he had not been physically examined by a physician, and that the statute required a physical examination. The Appellate Division determined that the statute did not require a physical examination and upheld the denial of compassionate release. Today, in a unanimous opinion by Justice Hoffman, the Supreme Court agreed that no physical examination was required, but reversed the denial of compassionate relief as insupportable....

Prosecutor's Prejudicial Comments During Summation Required Vacation of Conviction on Weapons and Criminal Restraint Charges

State v. Kelly, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). Judge Gummer wrote the panel's opinion in this case. The panel reversed defendant's conviction on weapons and criminal restraint charges, based on a set of facts remarkably similar to those in State v. Daniels, 182 N.J. 80 (2004)....