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

Public Utilities Are Not Exempt From Municipal Regulation

New Jersey Natural Gas Co. v. Borough of Red Bank, 438 N.J. Super. 164 (App. Div. 2014). New Jersey Natural Gas ("NJNG") proposed to remove underground gas regulators located in...

What if They Passed a Statute and Neither Side Complied With It?

Manhattan Trailer Park Homeowners Ass'n, Inc. v. Manhattan Trailer Court & Trailer Sales, Inc., 438 N.J. Super. 185 (App. Div. 2014). The Mobile Home Protection Act, N.J.S.A. 46:8C-2 to -21,...

The Third Circuit Rejects Arbitration by Estoppel

Flintkote Company v. Aviva PLC, 769 F.3d 215 (3d Cir. 2014). Efforts to force arbitration on parties who did not agree to it continue. In this case, however, the Third...

Employer's Anti-Harassment Policies and Prompt Action to Implement Them Save the Day in an LAD Case

Dunkley v. S. Coraluzzo Petroleum Transporters, 437 N.J. Super. 366 (App. Div. 2014). Plaintiff, an African-American oil delivery driver, experienced some uncomfortable interaction with his on-road trainer, Harrington. Harrington made remarks...

Potential Future Tax Assessments Are Not a Cloud on Title to Real Estate

Princeton South Investors, LLC v. First American Title Ins. Co., 437 N.J. Super. 283 (App. Div. 2014). This opinion by Judge Reisner addressed two issues: "in the context of a...

Quest Defeats Class Certification at the Third Circuit

Grandalski v. Quest Diagnostics, Inc., 767 F.3d 175 (3d Cir. 2014). Plaintiffs filed a putative class action in which they alleged that defendant, a company that performs medical lab tests,...

Proofs and Defenses in Collection Cases

New Century Financial Services, Inc. v. Oughla, 437 N.J. Super. 299 (App. Div. 2014). This case encompassed two consolidated collection cases. Opposing counsel in these matters regularly face off against...

Placing Debtor's Account Number on Envelope of Collection Letter is Not Permitted by the FDCPA

Douglass v. Convergent Outsourcing, 765 F.3d 299 (3d Cir. 2014). The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. §1692f(8) ("FDCPA"), forbids debt collectors from putting on the envelopes of debt...

Kemp v. State

On this date in 2002, the Supreme Court decided Kemp ex rel. Wright v. State, 174 N.J. 412 (2002). The Court split 4-3. Justice Stein wrote the majority opinion, in...

A Warning to Appellate Lawyers From Judge Fuentes

Walters v. YMCA, 437 N.J. Super. 111 (App. Div. 2014). This decision by Judge Fuentes, issued today, reverses a grant of summary judgment in favor of the YMCA in what...

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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....