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

The Supreme Court Adds More Cases

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in three more cases. Two of them are criminal matters, and the third arises out of a criminal case while presenting...

The Supreme Court Takes Up Accutane Appeals and an Evidence Matter

The Supreme Court announced late last Friday that it has granted review in three more cases. Two of those cases involve the long-running Accutane Multi-County Litigation, which the Court has...

Another Criminal Justice Reform Act Case for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced today that it has granted leave to appeal in State v. Pinkston. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk's Office, is "In this...

The Supreme Court Grants Review in Five More Cases

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in five more cases. One of those is a land use matter. The other four run the gamut from administrative law...

A Photographic Array Appeal for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced today that it has granted review in State v. Anthony. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk's office, is "Is defendant entitled to...

Three New Grants of Review by the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced yesterday that it has granted review in two new cases. The first is Willner v. Vertical Reality, Inc. The question presented there, as phrased by the...

Two More Accelerated Criminal Appeals for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced two new grants of review. Both are criminal cases, and the Court accelerated the proceedings in both appeals. Each of them will be set down for...

The New Term's First Grant of Supreme Court Review

Kicking off its new term, the Supreme Court announced its first grant of review last Friday. The Court granted leave to appeal in State v. Dickerson, another case under the...

Three More Cases to be Reviewed by the Supreme Court

Today, the Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in three cases. All three cases involve grants of certification, and one of them also is an appeal as of...

As the Summer Months Begin, the Supreme Court Takes Three More Cases

The Supreme Court announced on Friday that it would review three more cases. One of those is before the Court as of right, due to a dissent in the Appellate...

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Retired Policeman's Pension Benefits Were Wrongly Paid to His Estranged Spouse Rather Than to His Estate, Where He Had Not Designated Anyone to Receive the Pension Benefit if He Died

Isaac v. Board of Trustees, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). Two kinds of benefits are payable to retired members of the.Police and Firemen's Retirement System ("PFRS"). One is a pension benefit, a part of the member's compensation for past services. Pension benefits go to the person whom the member designates, or to the member's estate if no designation is made. The other is a survivor's benefit, which goes to the member's widow for the duration of his or her widowhood. Former Newark policeman Keith Isaac made no designation as to his pension benefits, though he did list his estranged wife, Roxanne, as his spouse when he filed for retirement. Based on that, Isaac's pension benefits were distributed to Roxanne. Isaac's estate contested that, and today the Supreme Court held that the estate should have gotten the pension monies....

The Supreme Court Clarifies New Jersey's Automobile Exception to the Requirement of a Search Warrant

State v. Fenimore, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). Both the United States and New Jersey Constitutions protect the people against "unreasonable searches and seizures" and prohibit the issuance of search warrants without "probable cause." Both federal and New Jersey law, however, recognize an "automobile exception" to the warrant requirement. But New Jersey's automobile exception is narrower than the federal exception, as the Supreme Court stated in State v. Witt, 223 N.J. 409 (2015). Today, the Supreme Court ruled that the Appellate Division in this case had interpreted Witt too broadly in reversing a Law Division decision to exclude evidence from a warrantless search. The Supreme Court reversed and excluded the evidence....

"Liberal Standards" for Standing "Are Not Equivalent to No Standards At All," the Supreme Court Says

New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers, Inc. v. Ford Motor Co., ___ N.J. ___ (2025). As Justice Pierre-Louis observed in her opinion for a unanimous Court in this case today, New Jersey state courts have long "take[n] a more liberal approach to standing than federal law." But in this appeal, the statute sued upon, the Franchise Practices Act, N.J.S.A. 56:10-1 et seq. ("FPA"), stated that only a "franchisee" could sue its franchisor. Because plaintiff here ("NJCAR") was not a franchisee but an association of franchisees, NJCAR lacked standing to bring a FPA case....

Compassionate Release Act Does Not Require Physical Examination of Inmates Seeking Relief, But Denial of Relief in This Case Was Arbitrary and Capricious

M.R. v. New Jersey Department of Corrections, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). Plaintiff appealed the denial of his petition for release under the Compassionate Release Act, N.J.S.A. 30:4-123.51 ("CRA"). He argued that he had not been physically examined by a physician, and that the statute required a physical examination. The Appellate Division determined that the statute did not require a physical examination and upheld the denial of compassionate release. Today, in a unanimous opinion by Justice Hoffman, the Supreme Court agreed that no physical examination was required, but reversed the denial of compassionate relief as insupportable....