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

A Diverse Diet of New Cases for the Supreme Court

In making up for lost time, a separate post was warranted to take note of three new grants of review by the Supreme Court. The cases address very different areas...

Three More Grants of Certification by the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced late yesterday that it has granted certification in three more cases. In the first matter, Serico v. Rothberg, the question presented, as phrased by the Supreme...

Judge Fisher and a "Leviathan of a Case"

Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited v. SAC Capital Management, LLC, 450 N.J. Super. 1 (App. Div. 2017). Judge Fisher often is able to write remarkably concise opinions, as shown (for example) here...

The Supreme Court Adds Five More Cases

The Supreme Court has granted review in five cases. One of them is an appeal as of right, by virtue of a dissent in the Appellate Division. That case is...

Two More Suppression of Evidence Cases for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced today that it has granted leave to appeal in two criminal cases, each of which addresses the suppression of evidence. In State v. Atwood, the question...

Whether a Child is Emancipated Requires Full Legal Analysis, and Findings and Conclusions

Ricci v. Ricci, 448 N.J. Super. 546 (App. Div. 2017). As Judge Lihotz observed in the opening sentence of her opinion for the Appellate Division in this case, Newburgh v....

Supreme Court Will Review a Defamation Case, a Vehicle Search Case, and a Warrantless Entry Case

The Supreme Court announced today the addition to three more cases to its docket. The first of those appeals comes from a published opinion of the Appellate Division. Petro-Lubricant Testing...

The Supreme Court Will Review a UCC Case, an Important Discovery Issue, and Another Criminal Case

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in three more cases. In Granata v. Broderick, the question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk's Office, is "Among...

33 Years Since Mount Laurel II

Today is inauguration day for Donald Trump. He and his designee to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Dr. Ben Carson, might take a lesson from a decision...

Plaintiffs Have Standing to Sue for Data Breaches That Violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Even Without More "Concrete" Injury

In re Horizon Healthcare Services Inc. Data Breach Litig., 846 F.3d 625 (3d Cir. 2017). [Dislcosure: My firm, Lite DePalma Greenberg, LLC, is co-lead counsel for the successful plaintiffs in...

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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....