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

A Regulation Cannot Trump Its Enabling Statute

Flinn v. Amboy Nat'l Bank, 436 N.J. Super. 274 (App. Div. 2014). This opinion by Judge Sabatino contains, among other things, an encyclopedic discussion of cases that address the standards...

Unemployment Benefits for Employee Fired Due to Refusal, for Secular Reasons, to be Vaccinated Against the Flu

Valent v. Board of Review, 436 N.J. Super. 41 (App. Div. 2014). June Valent is a registered nurse who worked at Hackettstown Community Hospital. In order to minimize the incidence of...

In Response to OPRA Request, Agency May Not Redact Public Records for "Relevance"

American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey v. New Jersey Div. of Criminal Justice, 435 N.J. Super. 533 (App. Div. 2014). Plaintiff ACLU filed an Open Public Records Act ("OPRA")...

Commissioner of Education Validly Approved Charter Schools That Include Online Instruction

In re Grant of Charters to Merit Preparatory Charter School and Newark Preparatory Charter School, 435 N.J. Super. 273 (App. Div. 2014). Charter schools are the subject of much controversy....

"Poor Planning" by Impoverished Parent Does Not Constitute Abuse or Neglect of Children

New Jersey Div. of Child Protection & Permanency v. L.W., 435 N.J. Super. 189 (App. Div. 2014). Impoverishment does not equal child neglect. That is the conclusion of this opinion...

Justice Fernandez-Vina's Maiden Opinion

Hersh v. County of Morris, 217 N.J. 236 (2014). It is traditional for a new Justice's first opinion to be a unanimous, relatively uncontroversial one. Yesterday, Justice Fernandez-Vina issued his...

Not All Misstatements About Medical History Disqualify an Applicant for Worker's Compensation Benefits

Bellino v. Verizon Wireless, 435 N.J. Super. 85 (App. Div. 2014). The Workers Compensation Act, N.J.S.A. 34:15-1 to -142 ("the Act"), contains an "anti-fraud" provision in N.J.S.A. 34:15-57.4. Under that...

The Supreme Court Grants COAH's Motion for an Extension of Time to Promulgate Third Round Rules

Today witnessed the latest event in the ongoing saga regarding third round rules for low and moderate-income housing to be adopted by the Council on Affordable Housing ("COAH"). As discussed...

The Supreme Court Stays the Appellate Division's COAH Mandate

As discussed here, on March 7, the Appellate Division directed the Council on Affordable Housing ("COAH") to meet on an expedited basis and adopt third round rules regarding municipal shares of...

An Extraordinary Smackdown for COAH

Under Rule 2:8-1(b), motions in the Appellate Division are not normally argued orally. On March 5, however, an Appellate Division panel (Judges Fuentes, Simonelli, and Haas) heard oral argument, at...

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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....