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

A Warning From the First Circuit: An Appeal Where Briefs Did Not Adequately Cite the Record or Argue Caselaw is Dismissed

Machado-Rodriguez v. Shinseki, 700 F.3d 48 (1st Cir. 2012). This was an employment discrimination case, a type of lawsuit that the First Circuit Court of Appeals recognized is often complex. Summary judgment was granted...

Standing is Not Jurisdictional in New Jersey State Court

Deutsche Bank Nat'l Trust Co. v. Russo, 429 N.J. Super. 91 (App. Div. 2012). This was another mortgage foreclosure case in which defendants belatedly asserted that plaintiff lacked standing because plaintiff was...

The Third Circuit Announces That it Frowns on Extensions, and Gives Guidance About Certified Questions of State Law

The Third Circuit has issued the attached Notice to Counsel, which covers two subjects. First, the Court states that "[m]otions for extension of time to file a brief or to otherwise comply with the...

When a Party Dies

Giles v. Campbell, 698 F.3d 153 (3d Cir. 2012). Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 25 addresses what happens when a party dies during the pendency of a case. Plaintiff, a...

Girls in Little League

On this date in 1974, with a one-sentence summary affirmance of the Appellate Division, the Supreme Court upheld a ruling that Little League Baseball, Inc. had to admit girls aged...

A Proposal to Increase the Time to Appeal From Municipal Court Decisions

A3228 was recently introduced in the Legislature byAssemblywoman Spencer (D-Essex). The bill would provide a 30-day period for filing a notice of appeal from municipal court decisions. The current time for appeal,...

Motion to Vacate Foreclosure Judgment for Lack of Standing by Plaintiff Came Too Late

Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas v. Angeles, 428 N.J. Super. 315 (App. Div. 2012). In this foreclosure case, defendant tried to argue that because his mortgage was not assigned to...

The Prerogative Writ of Mandamus

Mullen v. The Ippolito Corporation, 428 N.J. Super. 85 (App. Div. 2012). An action in lieu of prerogative writs can be used where, at common law, one of the designated...

The Printing Mart Decision

The end of August is usually a relatively sleepy period in terms of Supreme Court decisions. On this date in 1989, however, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Printing...

The "Excusable Neglect" Standard for an Extension of Time to File a Notice of Appeal

Ragguette v. Premier Wines & Spirits, 691 F.3d 315 (3d Cir. 2012). Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a)(5) allows an extension of time to file a notice of appeal upon...

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No Ethics Violation in Attorney Purchasing Another Attorney's Name as a Keyword for Internet Searches, the Supreme Court Says, With a Caveat

In re Opinion No. 735 of the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). [Disclosure: I represented an amicus curiae in this appeal]. As Justice Noriega said in his opinion for a 5-1 majority (Justice Pierre-Louis did not participate), this appeal "presents the narrow question of whether it is permissible under the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) for an attorney or law firm to purchase a competing attorney's or law firm's name as a keyword." The Court found it permissible, with a caveat. Justice Fasciale dissented....

Four Criminal Law Cases, and a Qui Tam Appeal, for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced today that it has granted review in five new appeals. One of them is before the Court on leave to appeal, while in the others the Court granted certification....

The "Limited Attorney Exemption" of the Debt Adjustment and Credit Counseling Act is Held Unconstitutional as Violative of the Separation of Powers and Void for Vagueness

Anchor Law Firm, PLLC v. State of New Jersey, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). The Debt Adjustment and Credit Counseling Act, N.J.S.A. 17:16G-1 et seq. ("DACCA"), prohibits debt adjusters in New Jersey from operating for a profit. There is an exception for attorneys not "principally engaged" (a term not defined in the statute) in debt adjustment. That exception, adopted in a 1986 amendment, replaced a prior version of the DACCA that had exempted all attorneys from its scope....

Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week: Where a Party Files a Suit Alleged to Violate the UPEPA But Quickly Dismisses It, Can Defendants Then Get Counsel Fees Under the Statute?

On May 15, judges on Part C of the Appellate Division will hear oral argument in Satz v. Keshet Starr. Plaintiff, acting pro se, filed a defamation suit against defendants. Defendants filed an o order to show cause to dismiss the case and for attorneys' fees under the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act, N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-49 et seq. ("UPEPA"). The UPEPA, enacted in 2023, sought to make it more difficult to use the legal system as a weapon to bully individuals into silence by filing what have been known as SLAPP ("strategic lawsuits against public participation") suits....