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

More Fun for Judge Fisher as He Affirms a Denial of Arbitration

Morgan v. Raymours Furniture Co., 443 N.J. Super. 338 (App. Div. 2016). Today, Judge Fisher issued the first published Appellate Division decision of 2016. Recently, Judge Fisher wrote an opinion...

OPRA Records Custodian Cannot Bring Declaratory Judgment Case to Preempt OPRA Suit by Requestor

In re New Jersey Firemen's Ass'n Obligation to Provide Relief Applications Under the Open Public Records Act, 443 N.J. Super. 238 (App. Div. 2015). The OPRA (Open Public Records Act)...

A Labor Union's Discipline of One of Its Members

Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 22 v. Kavanagh, 443 N.J. Super. 39 (App. Div. 2015). This opinion by Judge Currier today addressed an appeal by defendant, a former member of...

A Controversial Height Variance Falls

Jacoby v. Englewood Cliffs Bd. of Adj., 442 N.J. Super. 450 (App. Div. 2015). At least since North Bergen Action Group v. North Bergen Tp. Planning Bd., 122 N.J. 567...

Stays Pending Appeal

In re Revel AC, Inc., 802 F.3d 558 (3d Cir. 2015). "We seldom focus on how to balance the four factors that determine whether to grant a stay pending appeal...

Disgorgement of Employee's Compensation May be Awarded Even Where Breach of Duty of Loyalty to Employer Does Not Cause Damage

Kaye v. Rosefielde, 223 N.J. 218 (2015). Kaye v. Rosefielde, 432 N.J. Super. 421 (App. Div. 2013), discussed here, seemed destined for Supreme Court review. The Court did grant review,...

Health Care Providers and ERISA Standing Based on Patient Assignments of Payment

North Jersey Brain & Spine Center v. Aetna, Inc., 801 F.3d 369 (3d Cir. 2015). Judge Chagares's concise opinion in this case today crystallized the issue near the outset. "The...

PERC Has Jurisdiction to Protect Employees' Right to "Assist" Their Unions

In re Probation Ass'n of New Jersey, 442 N.J. Super. 185 (App. Div. 2015). N.J.S.A. 34:13A-5.4(b)(1) prohibits interference with a right guaranteed by the Employer-Employee Relations Act, and the Act...

Discovery of Surveillance Video in a Personal Injury Case

Mernick v. McCutchen, 442 N.J. Super. 196 (App. Div. 2015). This appeal presented a discovery issue in an auto accident case. Defendants had taken surveillance video of the injured plaintiff....

A Unanimous Three-Judge Panel Opinion, With a Unanimous Concurrence by the Same Three Judges. Huh??

Lincoln Benefit Life Co. v. AEI Life, LLC, 800 F.3d 99 (3d Cir. 2015). For a single judge on a three-judge Third Circuit panel to issue a concurring opinion is...

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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....

"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....