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

"Shall" We? Is it "Necessary"?

In re State Bd. of Education's Denial of Petition to Adopt Regulations Implementing the New Jersey High School Voter Registration Law, 2011 WL 1529734 (App. Div. 2011). Public interest organizations submitted a...

"Interests of Justice" Provision Does Not Aid Tax Appeal Plaintiffs Who Did Not Pay Subject Taxes Timely

Dover-Chester Associates v. Randolph Tp., 419 N.J. Super. 184 (App. Div. 2011). The procedural history of these consolidated appeals was somewhat convoluted, but the legal issue was straightforward, as Judge Espinosa phrased...

Statute of Frauds Amendment That Covers Palimony Agreements is Not Retroactive

Botis v. Estate of Kudrick, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2011). January 18, 2010 was the effective date of an amendment to the Statute of Frauds that includes palimony agreements among...

Public Employer May Deny Use of Compensatory Time on Requested Date Even Without Showing Undue Disruption

Nutley Policemen's Benevolent Ass'n v. Township of Nutley, 419 N.J. Super. 160 (App. Div. 2011). The federal Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") , 29 U.S.C. §§201-219, requires a public employer who gives an...

"Reasonably Debatable": Arbitrator's Award of Pay for Ten-Minute Police Muster Period Upheld

Policemen's Benevolent Ass'n v. City of Trenton, 205 N.J. 422 (2011). The City of Trenton ordered certain employees to report for "muster" ten minutes before their shifts were to start, so that...

Two New Pro-Consumer Decisions

RAB Performance Recoveries, LLC v. George, 419 N.J. Super. 81 (App. Div. 2011), and Cowger v. Cherry Hill Mitsubishi, Inc., 2011 WL 848133 (App. Div. March 14, 2011). The Appellate Division recently...

Interpreting Indemnification Agreements

Keiffer v. Best Buy, 205 N.J. 213 (2011). This opinion deals with the interpretation of an indemnification agreement. It seems an unusual case for the Court to have taken, since most of Justice Albin's opinion, for...

Party On? "Parties" to a Contract Are Only Those Who Have Signed It

YA Global Investments, L.P. v. Cliff, 419 N.J. Super. 1 (App. Div. 2011). This is a personal jurisdiction case. But it is not the usual circumstance, where a plaintiff asserts jurisdiction based on...

Two Useful Appellate Practice Principles From the Virgin Islands

Government of the Virgin Islands v. Mills, 634 F.3d 746 (3d Cir. 2011). It's not often that a case from the Virgin Islands affects the law of appellate practice in the Third...

The Standard of Review of Administrative Agency Decisions

Oceanside Charter School v. New Jersey Dep't of Education, 418 N.J. Super. 1 (App. Div. 2011). On the merits, this decision, written by Judge Carchman, stands for a simple proposition: a...

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The 2025 Omnibus Court Rule Amendments and Other Changes

The Supreme Court announced amendments to Court Rules and appendices, as well as certain other procedural changes. That announcement is embodied in an Omnibus Rule Amendment Order that is available here....

"Abuse of Discretion" vs. "Patent and Gross Abuse of Discretion"

State v. Taylor, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6(c), a part of the Graves Act, makes the use or possession of a firearm during the commission, attempted commission, or flight from the commission of certain designated offenses a sentencing factor that triggers the imposition of a mandatory term of imprisonment. A later-added section of the Graves Act, N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6.2, creates an "escape valve," under which a prosecutor may seek from the court a waiver of the imposition of a mandatory minimum sentence where the prosecutor believes that such a sentence would not serve the interest of justice....

A "Swan Song" for a False Light Invasion of Privacy Claim on Statute of Limitations Grounds

Chipola v. Flannery, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). As discussed here, this case was one of two that the Supreme Court agreed to review in its first grants of review of the current Term. The question presented was "Does a claim alleging false light invasion of privacy have a one-year statute of limitations, see Swan v. Boardwalk Regency Corp., 407 N.J. Super. 108 (App. Div 2009)?" Today, agreeing with the Law Division and the Appellate Division, the Supreme Court answered "yes."...

What Weapons Offenses Are Subject to the Parole Ineligibility Requirement of the Graves Act?

State v. Cromedy, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). The Graves Act, N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6(c), prescribes a minimum term of incarceration for firearm-related offenses under certain subsections of N.J.S.A. 2C:39-5, as well as a mandatory period of parole ineligibility. In this case, the issue was whether a weapons offense conviction of violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:39-5(j) is covered by the Graves Act. The Law Division and the Appellate Division each held that it was. The Supreme Court reversed in a unanimous opinion by Justice Noriega....