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

Submitting a Certification in Support of a Motion to Dismiss a Complaint Converts The Motion to a Summary Judgment Motion

Raverta v. Lake Mohawk Golf Club, 2011 WL 3207945 (App. Div. July 29, 2011). Rule 4:6-2(e) allows a defendant to move to dismiss a complaint for failure to state a claim....

Residential Condominium Association is Not Liable for Sidewalk Injuries

Luchejko v. City of Hoboken, 207 N.J. 191 (2011). Sidewalk liability cases have bedeviled our Supreme Court for many years. In Stewart v. 104 Wallace Street, Inc., 87 N.J. 146 (1981),...

State Employee Who Chose to Schedule "Furlough Days" Consecutively Cannot Collect Unemployment Compensation for Those Days

Futterman v. Board of Review, 421 N.J. Super. 281 (App. Div. 2011). This case arose out of the 2009 agreement between the Christie administration and the union that represents state...

The Legislative Veto Cases

On this date in 1982, the Supreme Court of New Jersey decided two of the landmark separation of powers cases in New Jersey jurisprudence. The first case was General Assembly...

Latest U.S. Supreme Court Decision on Personal Jurisdiction is a New Jersey Case

J. McIntyre Machinery, Ltd. v. Nicastro, 131 U.S. 2780 (2011). Lawyers and judges sometimes refer to new cases that grow out of an older, seminal case as the "progeny" of...

An Unpublished Appellate Division Decision is Binding on the Parties to that Ruling

Triffin v. Capital One, 2011 WL 2848271 (App. Div. July 20, 2011). Under Rule 1:36-3, "[n]o unpublished opinion shall constitute precedent," and "except to the extent required by res judicata, collateral estoppel, the single...

No Consumer Fraud Act "Ascertainable Loss" Where Defendant Erroneously Sold Plaintiffs Food That Violated Their Religious Beliefs

Gupta v. Asha Enterprises, LLC, 422 N.J. Super. 136 (App. Div. 2011). Many religious believers have dietary restrictions. When they purchase food that is represented as being acceptable under those...

In New Jersey, A Class Action is Not Appropriate for Telephone Consumer Protection Act (Unwanted Faxes) Claims

Local Baking Products, Inc. v. Kosher Bagel Munch, Inc., 421 N.J. Super. 268 (App. Div. 2011). The Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. §227 ("TCPA"), prohibits the sending of unsolicited...

A Rarity: The Supreme Court Will Answer Questions Certified to it by the Third Circuit

Rules 2:12A-1 et seq. provide a procedure under which the Third Circuit Court of Appeals can certify a question of law to the Supreme Court of New Jersey "if the...

Judges Hayden, Ostrer and St. John are Elevated to the Appellate Division

Chief Justice Rabner announced today that, effective August 1, 2011, Judges Hayden, Ostrer and St. John were all being elevated to the Appellate Division. All three of those judges were previously...

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"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)....

An Arbitration Case and a Cannabis Land Use Appeal for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in two new appeals. One of those is from a published Appellate Division decision, while the other appeal is from an unpublished opinion of a two-judge Appellate Division panel....