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

Keeping Current With the Entire Controversy Doctrine

Ricketti v. Barry, 775 F.3d 661 (3d Cir. 2015). State court judges see a lot of New Jersey's entire controversy doctrine ("ECD"). Some federal judges, not so much. This opinion,...

The Supreme Court Hears Argument on Fair Share Housing Center's Motion for Contempt Against COAH

As previewed here, today was the day on which the Supreme Court heard oral argument on the application of the Fair Share Housing Center to hold the Council on Affordable...

Marcus Aurelius in the Appellate Division

Rosenstein v. State of New Jersey, Dep't of Treasury, 438 N.J. Super. 491 (App. Div. 2014). As this concise opinion by Judge Fisher today explains, in 2011, as part of...

Is the Supreme Court Fed Up With COAH?

When last we left the saga of the Council on Affordable Housing ("COAH") and its "third round rules" for the calculation of municipal obligations for low and moderate-income housing, the...

A "Bright-Line Directive": Post-Verdict, Ex Parte Communications Between a Judge and Jury Are Always Forbidden

Davis v. Husain, 220 N.J. 270 (2014). "Post-verdict ex parte communication between the trial court and jurors cannot be countenanced." That is the holding of today's opinion, for a unanimous Supreme...

No Sufficient Findings Below, So No Appellate Ruling on Constitutional Challenge to Advance Voter Registration Statute

Rutgers University Student Assembly v. Middlesex Cty. Bd. of Elections, 438 N.J. Super. 93 (App. Div. 2014). Plaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of N.J.S.A. 19:31-6.3b, which, as Judge Haas described it...

What Are the Odds (of Getting Any Given Appellate Division Judge on an Appeal)?

In an article in Tuesday's New York Times, Adam Liptak reported that opponents of same-sex marriage are challenging the composition of Ninth Circuit panels that have heard cases involving gay...

The Courier Font

Rule 2:6-10, which addresses the format of appellate briefs, states (among other things) that Supreme Court of New Jersey and Appellate Division briefs "shall contain no more than 26 double-spaced lines...

Supreme Court Will Review State v. Buckner (Recall Judges Case)

Yesterday, as expected, the Supreme Court announced that an appeal as of right has been filed, and had been accepted by the Supreme Court, in State v. Buckner, 437 N..J....

What Does "Annual" Mean?

In re Petition of BofI Federal Bank to Assign Lottery Prize Payment Rights, 437 N.J. Super. 549 (App. Div. 2014). These consolidated cases called on the Appellate Division to decide whether...

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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....