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

Public Employees Lose Again, as Supreme Court Upholds Suspension of Pension Cost of Living Adjustments

Berg v. Christie, 225 N.J. 245 (2016). Today's decision in this closely-watched case shows once again the importance of the standard of review applied. In a 6-1 decision by Justice...

When a Bus Company Won a Constitutional Challenge to a Tax, But Still Lost

Thiry years ago today, the Supreme Court decided Continental Trailways, Inc. v. Director, Div. of Motor Vehicles, 102 N.J. 526 (1986). Trailways, a large bus company, sued to declare New Jersey's...

An Important Religion Case for the Supreme Court

American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey v. Hendricks, 445 N.J. Super. 452 (App. Div. 2016). In 1978, the Supreme Court decided Resnick v. East Brunswick Bd. of Educ., 77...

Gun Control Act is Constitutional as Applied to Machine Guns, and a Trust That Owns a Machine Gun is Subject to That Law

United States v. One Palmetto State Armory PA-15 Machinegun, 822 F.3d 136 (3d Cir. 2016). Constitutional challenges to gun regulations are frequently filed, and most of them are without basis....

Third Circuit Calls for Full Briefing and Oral Argument as to Disclosure of Bridgegate Unindicted Co-Conspirator List

In connection with the upcoming Bridgegate trial of Bill Baroni and Bridget Kelly, news outlets had asked Judge Wigenton, who is handling the matter in the District Court, to release...

The U.S. Supreme Court Has Spokeo, and Class Action Defendants' Fondest Hopes Have Been Dashed

Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, ___ U.S. ___ (2016). Class action defendants often label cases seeking statutory damages as "no-injury class actions." Those defendants do not like statutes such as the Fair Credit...

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...

Office of Attorney Ethics May Investigate Grievance That District Ethics Committee Had Declined to Docket

Robertelli v. New Jersey Office of Attorney Ethics, 224 N.J. 470 (2016). As today's decision by Chief Justice Rabner describes in exquisite detail, the Supreme Court has established two different...

"Appeal" Procedure to Same Judge Who Already Ruled "Below" Was Impermissible

In re Application for a Retail Firearms Dealer's License Renewal by Cayuse Corp. LLC, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2016). This decision, issued by Judge Ostrer for the Appellate...

30 Years Since Goldman v. Weinberger, the "Yarmulkes in the Military" Case

On March 25, 1986, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Goldman v. Weinberger, 475 U.S. 503 (1986). Simcha Goldman, an ordained rabbi and an Orthodox Jew, was serving...

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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....