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

The Supreme Court Speaks About Evidence Rule 404(b)

State v. Carlucci, 217 N.J. 129 (2014). This is another guest post by Jeffrey A. Shooman, who was then my colleague in the Appellate Practice Group of Lite DePalma Greenberg,...

The Supreme Court Grants COAH's Motion for an Extension of Time to Promulgate Third Round Rules

Today witnessed the latest event in the ongoing saga regarding third round rules for low and moderate-income housing to be adopted by the Council on Affordable Housing ("COAH"). As discussed...

Judge Aldisert Reportedly Will Retire

According to a report that can be found here, Judge Aldisert, appointed to the Third Circuit by President Johnson in 1968, will retire in August of this year. He is...

An Extraordinary Smackdown for COAH

Under Rule 2:8-1(b), motions in the Appellate Division are not normally argued orally. On March 5, however, an Appellate Division panel (Judges Fuentes, Simonelli, and Haas) heard oral argument, at...

The "Colonel" May be Going to the Supreme Court

Prioleau v. Kentucky Fried Chicken, Inc., 434 N.J. Super. 558 (App. Div. 2014). In Arroyo v. Durling Realty, LLC, 443 N.J. Super. 238 (App. Div. 2013), discussed here, Judge Sabatino discussed the "mode of...

"Third Circuit Practice: A Practitioner's Guide"

At the upcoming 38th Annual United States District Court Judicial Conference sponsored by the Association of the Federal Bar of New Jersey on March 20, 2014, one of the programs...

U.S. Supreme Court Denies Review of Washing Machine Class Actions

For many months, the class action defendants' lobby has highlighted two Circuit Court opinions as the latest poster boys in a campaign whose ultimate goal is to abolish class actions....

Governor Christie Withdraws Hanna Nomination to the Supreme Court

According to a report on nj.com today, Governor Christie is withdrawing his nomination of Robert Hanna to the Supreme Court. Hanna and Governor Christie's other Supreme Court nominee, Monmouth County...

Criminal Charges Against an Employee Who Steals Her Employer's Documents to Aid in Her Separate Employment Discrimination Suit

This post is by my colleague Jeffrey A. Shooman. He discusses an important criminal law decision that the Appellate Division issued today. State v. Saavedra, 433 N.J. Super. 501 (App. Div. 2013). At...

Judges Rothstadt and O'Connor Are Elevated to the Appellate Division

Chief Justice Rabner announced today that Judges Garry S. Rothstadt and Amy O'Connor will be elevated to the Appellate Division effective December 16, 2013. Judge Rothstadt is a graduate of...

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 293031 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43…Last

"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....

The "Castle Doctrine"

State v. Bragg, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). A jury found defendant guilty of twelve charged counts, including attempted murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault, terroristic threats, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, endangering, and two lesser-included offenses of harassment. Some of those charges involved the use of deadly force. Persons may not use deadly force if the can retreat with complete safety. But under the "castle doctrine," an exception to the general rule, a person "is not obliged to retreat from his dwelling, unless he was the initial aggressor." N.J.S.A. 2C:3-4(b)(2)(b)(i). That doctrine derives from the common law....

No Arbitrariness in Rejection of Public Construction Bid That Failed to Include a Properly Signed, Required Consent of Surety

In the Matter of Protest Filed by El Sol Contracting and Construction Corp., Contract T100.638, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). This public bidding case resulted in a 5-2 split at the Supreme Court, the first non-unanimous ruling of the current Term. Justice Hoffman wrote the majority opinion, while Justice Fasciale authored the dissent for himself and Justice Pierre-Louis....