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

The Decline of Oral Argument in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals

Howard Bashman, who writes the How Appealing blog, has written a very instructive article about how oral argument in the Third Circuit has become increasingly rare since the court year that ended...

Four More Judges Temporarily Assigned to the Appellate Division

In Orders published yesterday, Chief Justice Rabner temporarily assigned four trial level judges to four different Parts of the Appellate Division. All four of the assignments run from February 25, 2013...

Arbitrator's Decision That the State Must, Against Its Will, Pay Part of Camden Firefighters' Salaries, is Reversed

In re City of Camden and International Ass'n of Firefighters, Local 788, 429 N.J. Super. 309 (App. Div. 2013). For over ten years, the City of Camden has been in such dire...

Interpreting an Indemnification Clause Cannot "Make a Fortress Out of The Elements of Style"

Sayles v. G&G Hotels, Inc., 429 N.J. Super. 266 (App. Div. 2013). This case involved the interpretation of an indemnification clause. In his opinion for the panel, Judge Fisher unpacked a "complex" provision...

An Appellate Pro Bono Win

Mastropole v. Giunta, 2012 N.J. Super. LEXIS 86 (App. Div. Jan. 15, 2013). This is a contract case that my colleague Marissa L. Quigley and I handled under the Appellate Division's...

Judges Ashrafi and Hayden are Reassigned

In separate Orders issued on January 4 and made public today, Chief Justice Rabner has reassigned Judge Ashrafi to Part G of the Appellate Division and Judge Hayden to Part...

Pro Se Litigants Have No Right to a Pro Se Manual, or to Other Assistance From the Courts

Mala v. Crown Bay Marina, Inc., 704 F.3d 239 (3d Cir. 2013). Plaintiff, a citizen of the Virgin Islands, refueled his powerboat at defendant's fueling station. The boat's tank overflowed with gasoline,...

Judge Shwartz is Renominated to the Third Circuit

Yesterday, President Obama resubmitted the nomination of Judge Shwartz for a seat on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, one of 33 judicial renominations (and one of seven Circuit Court renominations)...

Governor Christie Nominates Two to the Supreme Court

Governor Christie announced today that he was nominating Robert Hanna and Judge David Bauman to fill the two Supreme Court seats now occupied by temporarily-assigned judges of the Appellate Division....

In re Mathesius

As part of its constitutional duty to administer all courts in New Jersey, the Supreme Court sometimes finds it necessary to discipine judges. On this date in 2006, the Court...

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 31 32 333435 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43…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....