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

New Emergent Application Procedures in the Appellate Division

The Appellate Division has announced new procedures for emergent applications. The Notice to the Bar that details those procedures is available here. The key change is that the Appellate Division...

CEPA and "Watchdog" Employees

Lippman v. Ethicon, Inc., 432 N.J. Super. 378 (App. Div. 2013). Today's opinion under the Conscientious Employee Protection Act, N.J.S.A. 34:19-1 to -8 ("CEPA"), written by Judge Fuentes, reversed a summary...

Judges Rothstadt and O'Connor are Temporarily Assigned to the Appellate Division

It was announced today the Chief Justice Rabner has temporarily elevated Judges Garry S. Rothstadt and Amy O'Connor to the Appellate Division. The two judges will serve there from September...

An Advertisement: "Extraordinary CLE Program With Justice Patterson; Judges Axelrad (PJAD), Sabatino (JAD), and Stern (PJAD- retired); Bruce D. Greenberg, Esq., and Mattheu Nunn, Esq."

The title of this post is the title of an e-mail that went to members of the Morris County Bar Association to announce a seminar on appellate practice that will...

A Noticeable Drop in Oral Argument Requests in the Appellate Division

In an article available here, Law360 reports today that there has been a precipitious drop in requests for oral argument in the Appellate Division. Citing statistics from the judiciary, the...

"In But Not Of" (Or Just "Of") is Dispositive of Clash Over COAH

In re Plan for the Abolition of the Council on Affordable Housing, 214 N.J. 444 (2013). The Council on Affordable Housing ("COAH") was established as part of the Legislature's response to the...

Sweet! Third Circuit's 2014 Judicial Conference Scheduled for Hershey, PA

The Third Circuit has announced that its 2014 Judicial Conference, open to both judges and attorneys, will take place at the Hershey Lodge in Hershey, PA on May 7-9, 2014....

Judges Carroll and Leone Will be Elevated to the Appellate Division

Chief Justice Rabner announced today that, effective August 1, 2013, Judges Carroll and Leone will be elevated to the Appellate Division. Both of those judges had been temporarily assigned to...

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Says Mandatory Judicial Retirement at Age 70 is Not Unconstitutional

This blog previously posed the question "Is Mandatory Judicial Retirement at 70 Unconstitutional?" That was because some Pennsylvania judges had challenged that state's requirement that judges retire at age 70,...

Appellate Division Rejects Challenge to Special Senatorial Election Process

Having agreed to review on an emergent basis an attack on Governor Christie's decision to schedule a special primary in August and a general election in October to fill the...

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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....