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

Standing, Attorneys' Fees, Disability, and Search and Seizure: The Latest Cases for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has granted review in four more cases. In Cherokee LCP Land, LLC v. City of Linden Planning Bd., the question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court...

A Diverse Diet of New Cases for the Supreme Court

In making up for lost time, a separate post was warranted to take note of three new grants of review by the Supreme Court. The cases address very different areas...

Three More Grants of Certification by the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced late yesterday that it has granted certification in three more cases. In the first matter, Serico v. Rothberg, the question presented, as phrased by the Supreme...

Four New Supreme Court Grants of Review: Criminal Law, OPRA, and Self-Critical Analysis Privilege

The Supreme Court announced this morning that it has granted review in four more cases. Two of them address discovery issues, and two involve criminal matters. In Brugaletta v. Garcia,...

A Violation of a Regulation Can be "Knowing" Even if There is No Judicial Decision Saying So at the Time of the Conduct at Issue

Allstate Ins. Co. v. Northfield Medical Center, P.C., 228 N.J. 596 (2017). After a bench trial, defendants were found to have violated the Insurance Fraud Prevention Act, N.J.S.A. 17:33A-1 to...

A Criminal Justice Reform Act Case for the Supreme Court in September

The Supreme Court announced today that it has granted review in State v. Newman. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk's Office, is "Did the trial court...

A Bail Reform Act Case, A "John Doe" Civil Case, and More Criminal Appeals Are Added to the Supreme Court's Docket

The Supreme Court announced today that it has granted review in three cases. The first arises under the new Bail Reform Act. The question presented there, as phrased by the...

The Supreme Court Adds Five More Cases

The Supreme Court has granted review in five cases. One of them is an appeal as of right, by virtue of a dissent in the Appellate Division. That case is...

Two More Suppression of Evidence Cases for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced today that it has granted leave to appeal in two criminal cases, each of which addresses the suppression of evidence. In State v. Atwood, the question...

Withdrawing a Published Opinion

State v. Jones, 449 N.J. Super. 12 (App. Div. 2017). In the "old days," when judicial opinions appeared only in books, there was a procedure for withdrawing an Appellate Division...

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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....