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

Mount Laurel's Ban on Billboards is Not Unconstitutional

Interstate Outdoor Advertising, L.P. v. Mt. Laurel Tp. Bd. of Adj., 706 F.3d 527 (3d Cir. 2013). The Township of Mount Laurel, best known for its role in a series of affordable...

Gun Group's Pre-emption and Due Process Challenges to "One Gun Law" are Shot Down

Association New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs v. Governor of the State of New Jersey, 707 F.3d 238 (3d Cir. 2013). In this opinion by Judge Sloviter, the Third Circuit deservedly gave...

Roe v. Wade

Today is the fortieth anniversary of Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973). That decision, written by Justice Blackmun, an appointee of President Nixon, and joined in by Justices as...

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...

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,...

Retroactivity … and the Effect of Statutory Numbering

Chiarello v. PERS Bd. of Trustees, 429 N.J. Super. 194 (App. Div. 2012). This opinion by Judge Fisher addressed the question of whether the application of plaintiff for a disability retirement from...

An Unusual Power of the Governor

In re Veto of Minutes of New Jersey Racing Comm'n, 429 N.J. Super. 277 (App. Div. 2012). This case, in which Judge Messano wrote the Appellate Division's opinion, involved an unusual statutory...

The U.S. Supreme Court Says it Again: It is for the Arbitrator, Not a Court, to Decide Whether a Contract Containing an Arbitration Clause is Valid

Nitro-Lift Technologies, LLC v. Howard, 133 S.Ct. 500 (2012). In a line of cases that includes Prima Paint Corp. v. Flood & Conklin Mfg. Co., 388 U.S. 395 (1967), and Buckeye Check...

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...

Department of Education Cap on School Superintendent Salary is Valid

New Jersey Ass'n of School Administrators v. Cerf, 428 N.J. Super. 588 (App. Div. 2012). To help reduce property taxes by limiting school district spending, the Department of Education approved, by rule,...

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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....