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

A Red-Letter Day for Beach Access

One might not think that February 2, a date in the dead of winter, would have anything to do with access to New Jersey's beaches. But on this date in...

Correctional Facility Did Not Improperly Discriminate Against Muslim Officer in Denying Her the Right to Wear Religious Headgear

Tisby v. Camden Cty. Correctional Facility, 448 N.J. Super. 241 (App. Div. 2017). Plaintiff, a corrections officer at the defendant correctional facility("CCCF") since 2002, became a Muslim in 2015. She...

A Clearly Articulated Statutory Immunity Applies, Even if it Seems Unfair

Kirkpatrick v. Hidden View Farm, 448 N.J. Super. 165 (App. Div. 2017). A boy who tagged along with his mother to a horse farm but did not himself take part...

Sovereign Immunity Prevails, But the State Police Still Lose

Royster v. New Jersey State Police, 227 N.J. 482 (2017). Today's decision is a unique one. Writing for the majority of five Justices (Justices LaVecchia, Patterson, Fernandez-Vina, Solomon, and Timpone),...

Alter Ego Theory Failed to Sustain Personal Jurisdiction Over Foreign Parent Corporation

FDASmart, Inc. v. Dishman Pharmaceuticals & Chemicals Ltd., 448 N.J. Super. 195 (App. Div. 2016). Plaintiff filed an action for breach of contract against two defendants, Dishman Pharmaceuticals & Chemicals,...

Rule 11 Sanctions Are Not to be Imposed for Minor Alleged Offenses

Moeck v. Pleasant Valley School District, 844 F.3d 387 (3d Cir. 2016). Motions for sanctions under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 are not favored because, as Judge Shwartz pointed...

Avoiding an Absurd Result in a Statute of Limitations Case Under the Survivor Act

Warren v. Muenzen, 448 N.J. Super. 52 (App. Div. 2016). A 2009 amendment to the Survivor Act, N.J.S.A. 2A:15-3, included language that "[e]very action brought under this chapter shall be commenced...

A Section 1292(b) Appeal on an Employment Discrimination Issue

Carroll v. Delaware River Port Authority, 843 F.3d 129 (3d Cir. 2016). 28 U.S.C. §1292(b) permits a District Court to certify a question of law to a Court of Appeals...

Supreme Court Will Review OPRA, Statute of Limitations, and Employment Contract Cases

The Supreme Court announced this afternoon that it has granted review in three more cases. The first is an Open Public Records Act ("OPRA") case, Paff v. Ocean County Prosecutor's...

Fiscal Emergencies Alone Do Not Permit Public Employers to Adversely Affect Employee Compensation in Violation of Collective Bargaining Agreements

In re Robbinsville Tp. Bd. of Educ. v. Washington Tp. Educ. Ass'n, 227 N.J. 192 (2016). In Borough of Keyport v. International Union of Operating Engineers, 222 N.J. 314 (2015),...

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 252627 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46…Last

"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....