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

No Right to Bring Damage Suit for Insurer's Refusal to Obey Compensation Judge's Order

Stancil v. ACE USA, 418 N.J. Super. 79 (App. Div. 2011). A series of articles in The Star-Ledger in April 2008 exposed a pervasive problem of insurance companies flouting the orders of...

Expungement of Conviction Does Not Make Reference to That Conviction Tortious

G.D. v. Kenny, 205 N.J. 275 (2011). A political campaign flyer charged that a candidate had as an aide "a DRUG DEALER who went to JAIL for FIVE YEARS for selling coke...

Interlocutory Appeals From PIP Arbitration Decisions are Not Allowed

Allstate New Jersey Ins. Co. v. Neurology Pain Associates, 418 N.J. Super. 246 (App. Div. 2011). The Automobile Insurance Cost Reduction Act ("AICRA") changed the way personal injury protection ("PIP") benefit arbitrations...

Mortgagee Lacks Standing to Enforce Note and Mortgage Unless Documents are Properly Authenticated

Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Ford, 418 N.J. Super. 592 (App. Div. 2011). The question of whether foreclosing mortgagees have the proper proofs to support their cases has been all over the news...

When May a Party Unilaterally Withdraw an Appeal?

State v. Gaffey, 92 N.J. 374 (1983). Today is the 28th anniversary of this opinion, so it seems appropriate to revisit this case today. Though the "meritorious issue [was] whether...

Attorneys' Fees Under the "Fund in Court" Doctrine

Porreca v. City of Millville, 419 N.J. Super. 212 (App. Div. 2011). Rule 4:42-9(a)(2) permits recovery of attorneys' fees from a "fund in court." Porreca, a decision written by Judge Axelrad, held that the...

The Breadth of Discovery in Legal Malpractice Cases

Marrero v. Feintuch, 418 N.J. Super. 48 (App. Div. 2011). Numerous cases say that in New Jersey state courts, pretrial discovery in civil cases is very broad. This case reiterates that principle...

Entity That Purchases Another Entity's Assets Can be Liable for Delinquent ERISA Fund Contributions

Einhorn v. M.L. Ruberton Const. Co., 632 F.3d 89 (3d Cir. 2011). When two firms merge, the successor firm may be liable for delinquent ERISA fund contributions of the predecessor. But where one entity...

Affidavits of Merit Must, Unsurprisingly, be Sworn

Taylor v. Community Medical Center, 2011 WL 181370 (App. Div. Jan. 21, 2011). This was an appeal by a plaintiff in a medical malpractice matter. Her complaint was dismissed for...

Some Lessons About Motions for Reconsideration

Nead v. Union Cty. Educ. Servs. Comm'n, 2011 WL 166205 (App. Div. Jan. 20, 2011). This case, which resulted in a reversal of a trial court's decision to dismiss an employment discrimination case, teaches several things...

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Retired Policeman's Pension Benefits Were Wrongly Paid to His Estranged Spouse Rather Than to His Estate, Where He Had Not Designated Anyone to Receive the Pension Benefit if He Died

Isaac v. Board of Trustees, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). Two kinds of benefits are payable to retired members of the.Police and Firemen's Retirement System ("PFRS"). One is a pension benefit, a part of the member's compensation for past services. Pension benefits go to the person whom the member designates, or to the member's estate if no designation is made. The other is a survivor's benefit, which goes to the member's widow for the duration of his or her widowhood. Former Newark policeman Keith Isaac made no designation as to his pension benefits, though he did list his estranged wife, Roxanne, as his spouse when he filed for retirement. Based on that, Isaac's pension benefits were distributed to Roxanne. Isaac's estate contested that, and today the Supreme Court held that the estate should have gotten the pension monies....

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....