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

No Jury Trial Right Under the Insurance Fraud Prevention Act

Allstate New Jersey Ins. Co. v. Lajara, 433 N.J. Super. 20 (App. Div. 2013). Plaintiff insurers sued a number of defendants under the Insurance Fraud Prevention Act, N.J.S.A. 17:33A-1 to...

The "Narrowest Grounds" Doctrine

B.H. v. Easton Area School District, 725 F.3d 293 (3d Cir. 2013). The majority opinion in this en banc case, written by Judge Smith, begins as follows. "Once again, we...

Advisory Opinions, Subject Matter Jurisdiction, and More, in a Bankruptcy Case

In re Lazy Days' RV Center, Inc., 724 F.3d 418 (3d Cir. 2013). In this bankruptcy appeal, Judge Hardiman, writing for the panel, reversed a district court decision that had...

A Statute Trumps the Common Law

Farmers Mut. Fire Ins. Co. of Salem v. New Jersey Property-Liability Ins. Guar. Ass'n, 215 N.J. 552 (2013). Today's unanimous opinion by Justice Albin addresses the proper allocation of environmental cleanup...

Brief Administrative Determination Addressed to Spanish-Speaking Puerto Rican Resident Must be Translated Into Spanish in Its Entirety in Order to Satisfy Due Process

Alicea v. Board of Review, 432 N.J. Super. 347 (App. Div. 2013). In Rivera v. Board of Review, 127 N.J. 578 (1992), a case that, like today's decision, involved a...

Railroad Can Take Private Property if "Not Incompatible With the Public Interest" and as "The Exigencies of Business May Demand"

Norfolk Southern Railway Co. v. Intermodal Properties, LLC, 210 N.J. 261 (2013). New Jersey law allows railroads and public utilities to take private property by eminent domain. N.J.S.A. 48:3-17.7 requires that any such taking...

Marcus v. BMW Reiterated

Hayes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 725 F.3d 349 (3d Cir. 2013). In this consumer class action, the Third Circuit, in an opinion by Judge Scirica, vacated class certification. That decision rested largely...

The Appellate Division Announces a New Right to Counsel in Certain Post-Conviction Relief Proceedings

State v. Quixal, 431 N.J. Super. 502 (App. Div. 2013). Today's post is a guest post by Jeffrey A. Shooman, one of my colleagues in the Appellate Practice Group at Lite DePalma...

"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...

Both General and Special Benefits Must be Considering in Valuing "Just Compensation" for Takings

Borough of Harvey Cedars v. Karan, 214 N.J. 384 (2013). Using the power of eminent domain, the Borough of Harvey Cedars took a portion of defendants' beachfront property (actually, the Borough took...

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 29 30 313233 34 35 36 37 38 39…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....