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

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...

Ban on Discrimination Against the Unemployed in Job Advertisements is Constitutional

New Jersey Dept' of Labor & Workforce Development v. Crest Ultrasonics, 434 N.J. Super. 34 (App. Div. 2014). N.J.S.A. 34:8B-1 "bars employers seeking to fill job vacancies in this State...

Personal Jurisdiction Goes Only So Far

Baanyan Software Services, Inc. v. Kuncha, 433 N.J. Super. 466 (App. Div. 2013). Under Rule 4:4-4, New Jersey asserts personal jurisdiction over defendants to the outer limits of what due...

Another Important Initiative and Referendum Decision

Redd v. Bowman, 433 N.J. Super. 178 (App. Div. 2013). This is another case that involves the power of citizens of a municipality established under the Faulkner Act, N.J.S.A. 40:69A-1 to -210, to...

Impossibility of Performance as a Defense to Easement Agreements

Petrozzi v. City of Ocean City, 433 N.J. Super. 290 (App. Div. 2013). This case presented a concept of basic contract law– impossibility of performance– in an unusual setting. Judge Parrillo...

Delaware Chancery Court's State-Sponsored Arbitration Program is Held Unconstitutional

Delaware Coalition for Open Government, Inc. v. Strine, 733 F.3d 510 (3d Cir. 2013). It is rare that judges, and a court, are defendants in a lawsuit. It is even...

State Withdraws Same Sex Marriage Appeal

This morning, the State of New Jersey submitted a letter to the Supreme Court Clerk's Office requesting that the letter be accepted as a withdrawal of the State's appeal in...

Same Sex Marriages May Proceed, as Supreme Court Denies Stay Pending Appeal

Today, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion, written by Chief Justice Rabner, denying the State's request to stay the Law Division's ruling that allows same sex marriages in New...

Privacy: The Right to Freedom From Unwarranted Intrusion

Soliman v. The Kushner Companies, Inc., 433 N.J. Super. 153 (App. Div. 2013). Defendants secretly installed hidden surveillance cameras in bathrooms in an office building that they operated. The stated reason...

Supreme Court Will Review Same-Sex Marriage Case

On Friday, the Supreme Court announced that it would grant the State's application for direct certification to review the September 27 ruling of the Law Division that granted summary judgment...

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"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....