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

Another Criminal Case, and Two Cases Involving Civil Claims by Police Officers, Will Get Supreme Court Review

The Supreme Court has announced that it has granted review in three more cases. Two of them resulted from unpublished Appellate Division rulings in cases where police officers are the...

Foreclosure Judgment Affirmed "In Spite of Certain Irregularities"

Capital One, N.A. v. Peck, 455 N.J. Super. 254 (App. Div. 2018). In the usual foreclosure case, the same entity owns both the note and the related mortgage. The facts...

The TCCWNA and Towing Companies

Pisack v. B&C Towing, Inc., 455 N.J. Super. 225 (App. Div. 2018). This decision by Judge Gilson today in three consolidated appeals implicates the Predatory Towing Prevention Act, N.J.S.A. 56:13-7...

A Sidewalk Liability Case Involving a Vacant Church

Ellis v. Hilton United Methodist Church, 455 N.J. Super. 33 (App. Div. 2018). The opinion in this case, issued today, involved a slip and fall on a sidewalk that abutted...

The "Single Publication Rule" in the Internet Age, and the "Fair Report" Privilege

Petro-Lubricant Testing Laboratories, Inc. v. Adelman, 233 N.J. 236 (2018). This defamation case, which involves an internet article about an employment discrimination lawsuit that was thereafter reprinted in somewhat different...

A Key Consumer Fraud Case for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in All the Way Towing, LLC v. Bucks County International, Inc. The question presented on this appeal, as phrased by the Supreme...

Referring to a Party's Brief Instead of Offering Findings and Conclusions Draws Judge Fuentes's Ire

Estate of Doerfler v. Federal Ins. Co., 454 N.J. Super. 298 (App. Div. 2018). This opinion by Judge Fuentes today is one of the shortest published opinions of the Appellate...

Digging Out

This past Monday, I argued two appeals in the Supreme Court of New Jersey. They were the Accutane matters discussed and . In the period leading up to those arguments,...

The Supreme Court Adds Two Cases Involving Schools

The Supreme Court announced that it will review two new cases. One is at the Court as of right, due to a dissent in the Appellate Division. The Court granted...

No Cause of Action for "Negligent Identification as a Suspect"

Morris v. T.D. Bank, 454 N.J. Super. 203 (App. Div. 2018). This case arose out of a robbery at a T.D. Bank in Union, New Jersey. Plaintiff, an African-American man,...

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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....