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

The New Jersey Arbitration Act Does Not Require That Arbitration Proceedings Be Conducted in Person

State Farm Guaranty Ins. Co. v. Hereford Ins. Co., 454 N.J. Super. 1 (App. Div. 2018). Following an auto accident, the two insurance company parties to this appeal had a...

The Latest Grants of Review by the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in three more cases. One of them is yet another case under the Open Public records Act, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq....

The Smoke-Free Act Does Not Preempt A Municipal Ordinance Limiting Smoking in Retail Tobacco Establishments

Sparroween, LLC v. Township of West Caldwell, 452 N.J. Super. 329 (App. Div. 2017). Plaintiffs operated the Cigar Emporium in West Caldwell. In that business, they sell tobacco products, but...

DEP Has the Power to Condemn Property, Take Perpetual Easements to Protect the Shore, and Allow Public Access to Easement Areas

State of New Jersey, Department of Env. Protection v. North Beach 1003, LLC, 451 N.J. Super. 214 (App. Div. 2017). Beach access has long been an important and controversial issue...

Supreme Court Will Review OPRA, Statute of Limitations, and Employment Contract Cases

The Supreme Court announced this afternoon that it has granted review in three more cases. The first is an Open Public Records Act ("OPRA") case, Paff v. Ocean County Prosecutor's...

Monetary Sanction is Imposed on Appellate Counsel for "Utter Indifference to the Standards of Professional Competence"

Sackman v. New Jersey Manufacturers Ins. Co., 445 N.J. Super. 278 (App. Div. 2016). [Disclosure: I represent New Jersey Manufacturers in certain litigation, but not in this case]. This opinion,...

Three More Judges Temporarily Assigned to the Appellate Division

Orders of Chief Justice Rabner that temporarily assigned three judges to the Appellate Division, in addition to any other assignments, were released on Friday, April 10. The three judges are...

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Four New Criminal Appeals, and a Lone Civil Matter, for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in five new appeals. Four of them are criminal cases and one is a civil appeal....

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....

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....

"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....