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

Incarceration is Not a Per Se Bar to Unemployment Benefits

Haley v. Board of Review, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). Here are the basic facts of this appeal as Justice Solomon summarized them in his opinion for the Court in this...

Painting Over Lines on a Paved Street is Not "Obstructing" the Street

State v. Williams, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). Defendant was convicted in Municipal Court for violating an ordinance that stated that "No person shall unnecessarily obstruct any...

Justice Pierre-Louis's First Opinion for the Court

State v. Outland, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). This unanimous ruling was the first opinion authored by Justice Pierre-Louis. It was a robbery case in which defendant, who had a prior...

Two FDCPA Opinions From Judge Porter

Moyer v. Patenaude & Felix, A.P.C., ___ F.3d ___ (3d Cir. 2021); Klotz v. Celentano Stadtmauer and Walentowicz LLP, ___ F.3d ___ (3d Cir. 2021). These two opinions, both by...

Successor Liability (or Non-Liability) on a Commercial Lease

160 West Broadway Associates, LP v. 1 Memorial Drive, LLC, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). Judge Messano issued this opinion for the Appellate Division today. Though there were...

The Direct Action Statute and Arbitration

Crystal Point Condominium Ass'n v. Kinsale Ins. Co., 466 N.J. Super. 471 (App. Div. 2021). Plaintiff filed a construction defect litigation regarding balconies and slabs at plaintiff's 42-story condominium building....

Another Mass Tort Case Headed for the Supreme Court?

Hrymoc v. Ethicon, Inc., 467 N.J. Super. 42 (App. Div. 2021). This lengthy opinion by Judge Sabatino reversed trial verdicts for plaintiffs in two product liability cases involving pelvic mesh...

Unemployment is Not "Substituted Employment," and Unemployment Benefits Are Not "Pay or Salary"

Ciripompa v. Bd. of Educ. of Borough of Bound Brook, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). Judge Gummer well summarized her opinion for the Appellate Division today in its...

A Cook Injured While Working at Her Employer's "Family Fun Day" Qualifies for Workers' Compensation

Goulding v. NJ Friendship House, Inc., ___ N.J. ___ (2021). This opinion by Justice Fernandez-Vina today, for a unanimous Supreme Court, dealt with a claim under the Workers Compensation Act....

Paid "Release Time" for Certain Jersey City Teachers to Handle Union Business Such as Resolving Labor Disputes is Allowed by Statute and is Constitutional

Rozenblit v. Lyles, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). This case involved the question of whether a bargained-for "release time" provision in a collective bargaining agreement between the Jersey City School District...

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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)....