NJ Appellate Law Blog

The Effect of an Amendment to Prong Two of the "Best Interests of the Child" Test in Termination of Parental Rights Proceedings

New Jersey Division of Child Protection & Permanency v. D.C.A., 474 N.J. Super. 11 (App. Div. 2022). This opinion today by Judge Whipple affirmed the decision of a Family Part...

The First Supreme Court Opinion of the Current Term

Dennehy v. East Windsor Regional Bd. of Educ., 252 N.J. 201 (2022). As discussed here, this case involved an injury to a high school field hockey player at an informal...

The First Published Appellate Division Decisions of October

Today, and on two days last week, the Appellate Division issued its first published opinions since September 29. Here are summaries of those decisions. Meyers v. State Health Benefit Commission...

Judge Fisher Returns to the Appellate Division, and Judge Sumners is Named Acting Deputy Presiding Judge for Administration

With the swearing in of newly-confirmed Justices Fasciale and Wainer Apter, there are now six Justices on the Supreme Court. One seat, left vacant when Justice Albin retired this summer,...

The Twelfth Anniversary of New Jersey Appellate Law Blog

Yesterday, while I was out of action, was the twelfth anniversary of this New Jersey Appellate Law blog. My thanks to the many judges, lawyers, students, and interested laypeople who...

At Last! An Agreement is Reached for Governor Murphy to Re-Nominate Rachel Wainer Apter and Nominate Judge Fasciale for Supreme Court Seats

After much delay, an agreement has been reached under which Governor Murphy will re-nominate Rachel Wainer Apter, whom he nominated to fill a Supreme Court seat nearly eighteen months ago,...

Three Appellate Division Judges Are Temporarily Assigned to Sit on the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has been functioning for months with four Justices, plus Judge Fuentes on temporary assignment. Judge Fuentes is due to retire on September 1. At that time, the...

The 2022-2023 General Assignment Order, With Some Shakeups in the Appellate Courts

Today, Chief Justice Rabner issued the 2022-2023 General Assignment Order. From an appellate perspective, the headline news is that Judges Fisher, Sabatino, and Fasciale have been temporarily assigned to the...

The Appellate Division Will Sit in Freehold on August 16

Most Appellate Division oral arguments occur in a few locations, such as Trenton, Newark, Morristown, and Hackensack (though that is not an exhaustive list). Occasionally, however, the Appellate Division sits...

An Opinion About Stays From Judge Accurso

In re New Jersey Transit Award of Contracts No. 21-048A and 21-048B, 473 N.J. Super. 261 (App. Div. 2022). Published opinions from appellate courts about stays are relatively rare. Today,...

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In Primary Election Dispute, the Supreme Court Declines to Rewrite Election Laws to Create Remedies Not Afforded by Those Statutes

Johnson v. Wilkerson, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). Chief Justice Rabner's opinion for a unanimous Court follows on the Court's September 19, 2025 Order that upheld a ruling by Judge Sabatino in an emergent appeal by a candidate for a Roselle council seat. That Order stated that an opinion would follow....

Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week: Two Well-Known Law Firms Face Off Against Each Other, as Parties

Tomorrow, October 28, judges on Part E of the Appellate Division will hear oral argument in Nagel Rice, LLP v. Starkey, Kelly, Kenneally, Cunningham & Turnbach. It is relatively rare for one law firm to sue another, but that has occurred here....

Two Certified Question Cases From the Third Circuit, and a Related Grant of Leave to Appeal, for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in three new matters. Two of them involve questions certified to the Court by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, under Rule 2:12A. It is relatively rare for the Court to receive, and rarer for it to grant, petitions to decide certified questions, and it appears unprecedented for the Court to have granted review in two such cases at the same time. The other new case is a grant of leave to appeal to address one of the same issues presented in one of the certified question matters....

Still Another Committee on Character Anniversary

This blog has in the past noted anniversaries of Supreme Court decisions involving appeals from the Court's Committee on Character, on which I served for fifteen years. Today is another such anniversary, as on October 22, 1997, the Court decided In re Triffin, 151 N.J. 510 (1997)....