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

A "Bleak House" for the 21st Century- Chavez v. Dole Food Co.

Chavez v. Dole Food Co., 836 F.3d 205 (3d Cir. 2016). In the classic Charles Dickens book "Bleak House," the legal case of Jarndyce v. Jarndyce ran for so many...

Can an Agency Respond to an OPRA Request by Neither Confirming Nor Denying That Requested Documents Exist?

North Jersey Media Group, Inc. v. Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2016). The answer to the question posed in the caption of this post is,...

Claims of Non-Debtors Alleging Harm From Filing of Involuntary Bankruptcy of Debtor are Not Preempted by the Bankruptcy Code

Rosenberg v. DVI Receivables XVII, LLC, 835 F.3d 414 (3d Cir. 2016). As Judge Ambro noted in his opinion in this case today, an involuntary bankruptcy is one that is...

When Both Sides Claim to be a "Prevailing Party" Entitled to Attorneys' Fees

Raab v. City of Ocean City, 833 F.3d 286 (3d Cir. 2016). In this case under the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. §1983, both plaintiff and the defendant municipality claimed...

In re Reglan Litigation: No Federal Preemption of State Law Claim That Generic Drug Carried Inadequate Warning

In re Reglan Litigation, 226 N.J. 315 (2016). Plaintiffs in this mass tort matter claimed that defendants, who are generic manufacturers of metoclopramide, the generic version of the drug Reglan,...

The Discovery Rule is Applied to Common Law and Consumer Fraud Act Claims

Catena v. Raytheon Company, 447 N.J. Super. 43 (App. Div. 2016). The time when a cause of action accrues, for purposes of triggering the statute of limitations, is a recurring...

Standing and Mootness in a Ten Commandments Monument Case

Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. v. New Kensington Arnold School District, 832 F.3d 469 (3d Cir. 2016). Federal standing law sometimes involves nuances inquiries comparable to the famous question of...

When Can an LLC Expel a Member?

IE Test, LLC v. Carroll, 226 N.J. 166 (2016). Until it was superseded by the Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act, N.J.S.A. 42:2C-1 to -94 ("RULLCA"), on March 18, 2013,...

Due Process Requires Counsel for an Indigent Parent in a Private Adoption Case That Would Terminate Parental Rights

In re Adoption of a Child by J.E.V. and D.G.V., 226 N.J. 90 (2016). In this unanimous opinion, authored by Chief Justice Rabner, the Supreme Court ruled that an indigent...

Trial Courts May Not Take Away a Jury Trial as a Sanction for a Rule Violation

Williams v. American Auto Logistics, 226 N.J. 117 (2016). Parties who fail to follow procedural rules are a source of frustration to busy trial judges. As Justice Fernandez-Vina noted in...

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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....

"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....