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

Justice LaVecchia Will Retire From the Bench

Justice LaVecchia announced yesterday that she will retire from the Supreme Court in August of this year. Her full statement follows: "It has been a privilege to hold the position...

The Supreme Court Addresses the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

Delanoy v. Township of Ocean, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). As discussed here, the Appellate Division issued the first opinion regarding the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, a component of the New...

Last Week

Late last week, the Supreme Court and the Appellate Division each issued two published opinions. Neither court has issued any published opinions this week (nor is either court slated to...

The Supreme Court Takes Two New Criminal Appeals and Agrees to Answer a Certified Question From the Third Circuit

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in three new cases. Two are criminal appeals and the third involves two questions certified by the Third Circuit. The Supreme...

Some Criminal Defendants Detained Pre-Trial Can Reopen Their Detention Hearings, the Supreme Court Says

In re Request to Release Certain Pretrial Detainees, 245 N.J. 218 (2021). This matter arose out of a motion filed by the Office of the Public Defender and the American...

A Distraint Anniversary

On this date in 1983, a unanimous Supreme Court decided Callen v. Sherman's, Inc., 92 N.J. 114 (1983). The case involved whether distraint, a procedure that allowed commercial landlords to...

A Cook Injured While Working at Her Employer's "Family Fun Day" Qualifies for Workers' Compensation

Goulding v. NJ Friendship House, Inc., ___ N.J. ___ (2021). This opinion by Justice Fernandez-Vina today, for a unanimous Supreme Court, dealt with a claim under the Workers Compensation Act....

Bank of New York Mellon Wins a New Trial in Foreclosure Case Where Mortgagors Alleged Forgery of Their Signatures

The Bank of New York Mellon v. Corradetti, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). As discussed here, this case came before the Supreme Court on an appeal as of right, based on...

Employment Discrimination Based on an Employee's Youth: An Anniversary

Most of us think that age discrimination in employment claims are limited to plaintiffs who allege discrimination based on their advanced age. But on this date in 1999, the Supreme...

Paid "Release Time" for Certain Jersey City Teachers to Handle Union Business Such as Resolving Labor Disputes is Allowed by Statute and is Constitutional

Rozenblit v. Lyles, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). This case involved the question of whether a bargained-for "release time" provision in a collective bargaining agreement between the Jersey City School District...

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No Ethics Violation in Attorney Purchasing Another Attorney's Name as a Keyword for Internet Searches, the Supreme Court Says, With a Caveat

In re Opinion No. 735 of the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). [Disclosure: I represented an amicus curiae in this appeal]. As Justice Noriega said in his opinion for a 5-1 majority (Justice Pierre-Louis did not participate), this appeal "presents the narrow question of whether it is permissible under the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) for an attorney or law firm to purchase a competing attorney's or law firm's name as a keyword." The Court found it permissible, with a caveat. Justice Fasciale dissented....

Four Criminal Law Cases, and a Qui Tam Appeal, for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced today that it has granted review in five new appeals. One of them is before the Court on leave to appeal, while in the others the Court granted certification....

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....

Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week: Where a Party Files a Suit Alleged to Violate the UPEPA But Quickly Dismisses It, Can Defendants Then Get Counsel Fees Under the Statute?

On May 15, judges on Part C of the Appellate Division will hear oral argument in Satz v. Keshet Starr. Plaintiff, acting pro se, filed a defamation suit against defendants. Defendants filed an o order to show cause to dismiss the case and for attorneys' fees under the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act, N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-49 et seq. ("UPEPA"). The UPEPA, enacted in 2023, sought to make it more difficult to use the legal system as a weapon to bully individuals into silence by filing what have been known as SLAPP ("strategic lawsuits against public participation") suits....