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

A Lesson About Stipulations of Dismissal and Motions for Voluntary Dismissal

Burns v. Hoboken Rent Leveling & Stabilization Bd., 429 N.J. Super. 435 (App. Div. 2013). This was a prerogative writ case involving rent control. Plaintiffs were tenants in a building owned by...

Arbitrator's Decision That the State Must, Against Its Will, Pay Part of Camden Firefighters' Salaries, is Reversed

In re City of Camden and International Ass'n of Firefighters, Local 788, 429 N.J. Super. 309 (App. Div. 2013). For over ten years, the City of Camden has been in such dire...

An Unusual Power of the Governor

In re Veto of Minutes of New Jersey Racing Comm'n, 429 N.J. Super. 277 (App. Div. 2012). This case, in which Judge Messano wrote the Appellate Division's opinion, involved an unusual statutory...

Draft Agency Report is Absolutely Protected From Disclosure Under Open Public Records Act; Government Records Council May Not Decide Common Law Right of Access Claims

Ciesla v. New Jersey Dep't of Health & Senior Services, 429 N.J. Super. 127 (App. Div. 2012). This was an appeal of a decision of the Government Records Council ("GRC"), the state...

Department of Education Cap on School Superintendent Salary is Valid

New Jersey Ass'n of School Administrators v. Cerf, 428 N.J. Super. 588 (App. Div. 2012). To help reduce property taxes by limiting school district spending, the Department of Education approved, by rule,...

Appeals From Agency Inaction, and When "Shall" Does Not Necessarily Mean "Must"

Natural Medical, Inc. v. New Jersey Dep't of Health & Human Services, 428 N.J. Super. 259 (App. Div. 2012). This decision, written by Judge Parrillo, involved plaintiff's interest in opening an...

Adverse Ruling by Civil Service Commission Precluded Employee From Bringing CEPA Lawsuit

Winters v. North Hudson Regional Fire & Rescue, 212 N.J. 67 (2012). When a public employee who is the subject of a disciplinary proceeding before the Civil Service Commission ("the...

Tea Party Challenge to District Map Fails

Gonzalez v. State of New Jersey Apportionment Comm'n, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2012). The Tea Party has had little electoral success in New Jersey. Its efforts to achieve...

The Prerogative Writ of Mandamus

Mullen v. The Ippolito Corporation, 428 N.J. Super. 85 (App. Div. 2012). An action in lieu of prerogative writs can be used where, at common law, one of the designated...

Administrative Regulation Was Not Authorized by Statute, and Thus Could Not Bar Tuition Aid Grant to U.S. Citizen Whose Parents Are Not Legal New Jersey Residents

A.Z. v. Higher Education Student Assistance Authority, 427 N.J. Super. 389 (App. Div. 2012). As this opinion by Judge Ostrer describes, though administrative agency regulations are entitled to a presumption...

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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....