NJ Appellate Law Blog

Health Club Membership Agreements Are Not Retail Installment Sales Contracts

Mellet v. Aquasid, LLC, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2017). The decision in this consumer protection case was issued in June as an unpublished opinion. Defendant then asked the...

The General Assignment Order for 2017-18

Today, the 2017-18 General Assignment Order issued by Chief Justice Rabner was published. It is available here. Judge Messano continues as Presiding Judge for Administration, and Judge Sabatino remains the...

Making Up for Lost Time

Several days out of the office last week, and work on a large appellate brief, have left me well behind our appellate courts, who have produced a number of decisions...

Reinforcements for the Appellate Division

Due to a major of my own in a mass tort case on Tuesday of this week, I missed the announcement that five trial level judges are receiving additional temporary...

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A Short Week Last Week, With Two Published Appellate Division Decisions

Last Friday was Juneteenth, and courts were closed, making it a short week. During that week, there were no Supreme Court opinions issued, but the Appellate Division published decisions in two matters, one of which encompassed fourteen cases. Here are summaries:...

The Week That Was: Two Supreme Court Opinions and One Published Appellate Division Decision

This week saw two Supreme Court opinions and one published Appellate Division decision. Here are summaries:...

A Bonanza: Five New Appeals for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in five new appeals. Two of those are from published opinions of the Appellate Division, while the other three bring up unpublished rulings by that court....

Invocations Before Meetings of Public Bodies: An Anniversary

In 2014, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Town of Greece v. Galloway, 572 U.S. 565 (2014). There, the Court held, by a 5-4 vote, that opening a monthly town board meeting with a prayer delivered by a local clergy member did not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. In 1981, the Supreme Court of New Jersey had issued a unanimous decision, Marsa v. Wernik, 86 N.J. 232 (1981), holding that the Borough of Metuchen's practice of opening its Borough Council meetings with an invocation selected and delivered by a council member likewise did not violate the Establishment Clause. That ruling foreshadowed, to some extent, that of Greece. The date of the Marsa decision was June 8, 1981, 45 years ago today....