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

The Facts Require Reversal of a Summary Judgment of Qualified Immunity

Winberry Realty Partnership v. Borough of Rutherford, 2016 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 1019 (App. Div. May 4, 2016). [Disclosure: I represented the successful plaintiffs-appellants on this appeal]. Qualified immunity is...

An "Attagirl" for Judge Chrystal in a Long-Running Mount Laurel Case

Cranford Development Associates v. Cranford Tp., 445 N.J. Super. 220 (App. Div. 2016). This Mount Laurel litigation resulted in a builder's remedy for construction of a 360-unit residential development in...

Supreme Court Will Review LAD, Fraudulent Conveyance, and Two Criminal Cases

In addition to the Supreme Court's grant of review in a case involving the termination of a contract of sale of residential real estate, discussed here, the Court announced in...

Plaintiffs Get Another Chance to Show "Mode of Operation" Liability

Walker v. Costco Wholesale Warehouse, 445 N.J. Super. 111 (App. Div. 2016). Earlier this year, in Troupe v. Burlington Coat Factory, 443 N.J. Super. 596 (App. Div. 2016), discussed here,...

Governor Christie Renominates Judge Bauman for the Supreme Court

Yesterday, Governor Christie announced that he was nominating Monmouth County Superior Court Judge David Bauman to fill the Supreme Court seat currently occupied by Judge Cuff. The announcement was a...

New Jersey Sports Gambling Law Case Argued En Banc

As discussed here, the en banc Third Circuit was to hear oral argument in this case today, and it did so this morning. The audio of that oral argument, which...

Proposed Changes to New Jersey Appellate Rules

The Supreme Court has published for comments the report of its Civil Practice Committee. The report is available here. The Committee has proposed revisions to three appellate rules. There are...

Berry Unfortunate for Plaintiff, But Slip and Fall Claim Fails

Troupe v. Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corp., 443 N.J. Super. 596 (App. Div. 2016). Today, Judge Suter authored her first published opinion for the Appellate Division. While shopping at a...

Some Appellate Division Insights From Judge Fisher

Last night's meeting of the New Jersey State Bar Association's Appellate Practice Committee featured Judge Fisher. He took questions and discussed various issues of practice and the preferences of Appellate...

Motions in Limine Cannot be Used as a Last-Minute, Short Notice Substitute for a Motion for Summary Judgment

Cho v. Trinitas Regional Medical Center, 443 N.J. Super. 461 (App. Div. 2015). In this medical malpractice case, the only remaining defendant, a doctor, filed what was labeled as "motions...

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No Ethics Violation in Attorney Purchasing Another Attorney's Name as a Keyword for Internet Searches, the Supreme Court Says, With a Caveat

In re Opinion No. 735 of the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). [Disclosure: I represented an amicus curiae in this appeal]. As Justice Noriega said in his opinion for a 5-1 majority (Justice Pierre-Louis did not participate), this appeal "presents the narrow question of whether it is permissible under the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) for an attorney or law firm to purchase a competing attorney's or law firm's name as a keyword." The Court found it permissible, with a caveat. Justice Fasciale dissented....

Four Criminal Law Cases, and a Qui Tam Appeal, for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced today that it has granted review in five new appeals. One of them is before the Court on leave to appeal, while in the others the Court granted certification....

The "Limited Attorney Exemption" of the Debt Adjustment and Credit Counseling Act is Held Unconstitutional as Violative of the Separation of Powers and Void for Vagueness

Anchor Law Firm, PLLC v. State of New Jersey, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). The Debt Adjustment and Credit Counseling Act, N.J.S.A. 17:16G-1 et seq. ("DACCA"), prohibits debt adjusters in New Jersey from operating for a profit. There is an exception for attorneys not "principally engaged" (a term not defined in the statute) in debt adjustment. That exception, adopted in a 1986 amendment, replaced a prior version of the DACCA that had exempted all attorneys from its scope....

Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week: Where a Party Files a Suit Alleged to Violate the UPEPA But Quickly Dismisses It, Can Defendants Then Get Counsel Fees Under the Statute?

On May 15, judges on Part C of the Appellate Division will hear oral argument in Satz v. Keshet Starr. Plaintiff, acting pro se, filed a defamation suit against defendants. Defendants filed an o order to show cause to dismiss the case and for attorneys' fees under the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act, N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-49 et seq. ("UPEPA"). The UPEPA, enacted in 2023, sought to make it more difficult to use the legal system as a weapon to bully individuals into silence by filing what have been known as SLAPP ("strategic lawsuits against public participation") suits....