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

A Square Conflict in Recent Appellate Division Decisions Regarding the Unemployment Statute

Blake v. Board of Review, 452 N.J. Super. 7 (App. Div. 2017). In McClain v. Board of Review, 451 N.J. Super. 461 (App. Div. 2017), discussed here, a panel of...

Volunteer Fireman is Not an "Employee" of His Volunteer Fire Company for Purposes of CEPA

Sauter v. Colts Neck Volunteer Fire Co. No. 2, 451 N.J. Super. 581 (App. Div. 2017). The Conscientious Employee Protection Act, N.J.S.A. 34:19-1 to -14 ("CEPA") protects "employees who report...

Municipal Planning and Zoning Boards Lack Power Over State University Development Proposals

Montclair State University v. County of Passaic, 451 N.J. Super. 523 (App. Div. 2017). The Municipal Land Use Law, N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq., places responsibility for development applications within a...

When Are Federal and State Court Cases "Parallel Proceedings" for Declaratory Judgment Act Purposes?

Kelly v. Maxum Specialty Ins. Group, 868 F.3d 274 (3d Cir. 2017). Judge Chagares began one of the early paragraphs of today's opinion for the Third Circuit in this Declaratory Judgment...

Plaintiff is Over the Moon, as the Third Circuit Applies New Jersey's Arbitration Cases to Defeat Defendant's Demand for Arbitration

Moon v. Breathless, Inc., 868 F.3d 209 (3d Cir. 2017). At least since 2014, when the Supreme Court of New Jersey decided Atalese v. U.S. Legal Servs. Grp., L.P., 219...

The Third Circuit Grants Mandamus, and Announces a New Test for Transfer in Unusual Circumstances

In re Howmedica Osteonics Corp., 867 F.3d 390 (3d Cir. 2017). Today's opinion by Judge Krause contains a little bit of a lot of things: in no particular order, waiver,...

The Supreme Court Abandons Baures v. Lewis in Family Law Child Relocation Cases

Bisbing v. Bisbing, 230 N.J. 309 (2017). Justice Patterson began her opinion in this case, for a unanimous Court, as follows. "This appeal arises from a trial court's post-judgment determination...

The Appellate Division Addresses the Noerr-Pennington Doctrine

Main Street at Woolwich, LLC v. Ammons Supermarket, Inc., 415 N.J. Super. 135 (App. Div. 2017). The Noerr-Pennington doctrine, which originated in two cases from the Supreme Court of the...

The New Jersey False Claims Act Does Not Apply to Claims Made in Connection With State Tax Laws

State ex rel. Campagna v. Post Integrations, Inc., 451 N.J. Super. 276 (App. Div. 2017). The New Jersey False Claims Act, N.J.S.A. 2A:32C-1 to -18 ("NJFCA"), encourages lawsuits by private...

A Treatise on Personal Jurisdiction From Judge Lihotz

Dutch Run-Mays Draft, LLC v. Wolf Block, LLP, 450 N.J. Super. 590 (App. Div. 2017). Issues of personal jurisdiction crop up fairly frequently, despite New Jersey's settled principle of applying...

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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....

"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....