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

Making Up for Lost Time

Several days out of the office last week, and work on a large appellate brief, have left me well behind our appellate courts, who have produced a number of decisions...

Judge Fisher and a "Leviathan of a Case"

Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited v. SAC Capital Management, LLC, 450 N.J. Super. 1 (App. Div. 2017). Judge Fisher often is able to write remarkably concise opinions, as shown (for example) here...

A "Hostile Environment" LAD Claim in a Police Station, a Place of Public Accommodation

Holmes v. Jersey City Police Department, 449 N.J. Super. 600 (App. Div. 2017). Today's decision by Judge Reisner in this case under the Law Against Discrimination, N.J.S.A. 10:5-2 et seq....

A Tour Through the Tort Claims Act With Judge Currier

Patrick v. City of Elizabeth, 449 N.J. Super. 565 (App. Div. 2017). The Tort Claims Act, N.J.S.A. 59:1-1 to 59:12-3 ("TCA"), contains numerous immunities and other impediments for plaintiffs who...

Notice of Disapproval of a Residential Real Estate Contract May Now be Given by Facsimile and Electronic Mail

Conley v. Guerrero, 228 N.J. 339 (2017). Today's decision in this case, written by Justice Solomon for a unanimous Court, largely affirmed the ruling of the Appellate Division, reported at...

The Supreme Court Adds Five More Cases

The Supreme Court has granted review in five cases. One of them is an appeal as of right, by virtue of a dissent in the Appellate Division. That case is...

The Requirement to Submit All Items From Below on Summary Judgment Appeals Applies Whether Summary Judgment Was Granted or Denied

Noren v. Heartland Payment Systems, Inc., 449 N.J. Super. 193 (App. Div. 2017). On February 6, 2017, the Appellate Division issued a published opinion in this case, which was discussed...

Financial Institution's Non-Compliance With Internal Policy Does Not Create a Duty to Non-Customers

Wolens v. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, LLC, 449 N.J. Super. 1 (App. Div. 2017). In the opening paragraph of his opinion for the Appellate Division today, Judge Sabatino encapsulated virtually...

Two Issues Under the Open Public Meetings Act

Kean Federation of Teachers v. Morell, 448 N.J. Super. 520 (App. Div. 2017). As a public body, Kean University's Board of Trustees is subject to the Open Public Meetings Act,...

Jury Waiver and Fee Award to Defendant in CEPA Case Are Overturned

Noren v. Heartland Payment Systems, Inc., 448 N.J. Super. 486 (App. Div. 2017). In Abbamont v. Piscataway Tp. Bd. of Educ., 238 N.J. Super. 603 (App. Div. 1990), aff'd, 138...

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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....