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

Allocation Among Multiple Defendants of Attorneys' Fees Under Fee-Shifting Statutes

Empower our Neighborhoods v. Guadagno, 453 N.J. Super. 565 (App. Div. 2018). This was an election case under the federal and New Jersey civil rights acts, both of which provide...

Which Appellate Deadlines Are Jurisdictional?

Hamer v. Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, 138 S.Ct. 13 (2017). In Bowles v. Russell, 551 U.S. 205 (2007), the Supreme Court of the United States explained that an appeal...

The Effect of United States Supreme Court Dicta

Coleman v. Superintendent Greene SCI, 845 F.3d 73 (3d Cir. 2017). Today, Judge Hardiman, writing for the Third Circuit in a habeas corpus case, addressed the weight to be given...

Editorial: Tomorrow is Election Day

Tomorrow is Election Day. This election presents one of the most consequential choices between major party candidates for President of the United States that this nation has ever seen. When...

Donald Trump Offers More Potential Supreme Court Nominees

Back in May, Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump announced a list of eleven potential nominees to the Supreme Court of the United States. As discussed here, one of those candidates,...

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...

"Humpty Dumpty" and Recalling a Discharged Jury

Dietz v. Bouldin, 136 S. Ct. 1885 (2016). When a judge discharges a jury in a civil case, and only thereafter realizes that the jury verdict contains an error, is...

When a Bus Company Won a Constitutional Challenge to a Tax, But Still Lost

Thiry years ago today, the Supreme Court decided Continental Trailways, Inc. v. Director, Div. of Motor Vehicles, 102 N.J. 526 (1986). Trailways, a large bus company, sued to declare New Jersey's...

Judge Hardiman on Trump's Supreme Court Short List

Presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump had promised months ago to announce a "short list" of his potential United States Supreme Court nominees. Especially in recent days, conservatives concerned about...

The U.S. Supreme Court Has Spokeo, and Class Action Defendants' Fondest Hopes Have Been Dashed

Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, ___ U.S. ___ (2016). Class action defendants often label cases seeking statutory damages as "no-injury class actions." Those defendants do not like statutes such as the Fair Credit...

1 234…Last

With the Appellate Division's Recess Over, The Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week is Another Waiver of Arbitration Case

On Tuesday, April 29, judges on Part F of the Appellate Division will hear oral argument in Newport Associates Development Co. v. Chubb Ins. Co. The appeal arises out of the denial by the Law Division of the motion of defendant AIG Specialty Insurance Company ("ASIC") to compel arbitration of plaintiffs' claim for indemnity in connection with underlying litigation with Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. and Public Service Electric and Gas Company. The Law Division held that ASIC had waived its contractual right to demand arbitration....

Another Quartet of New Cases for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in four new appeals. Three are from unpublished opinions of the Appellate Division, while the fourth is from a published decision in a criminal case....

A Recess for the Appellate Division, and for This Blog

The Appellate Division is in a recess this week and next. No oral arguments will occur during that period....

Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week: Has the School Funding Reform Act Denied Lakewood Public School Students the Constitutionally-Required "Thorough and Efficient" Education?

On Tuesday, April 8, judges on Part D will hear oral argument in Alcantar v. Allen-McMillan, a case filed in 2014 in which the Appellate Division has ruled before, 475 N.J. Super. 56 (App. Div. 2023). This appeal follows on the Appellate Division's prior ruling, unappealed by the State...