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

2019 Amendment to the Breathalyzer Refusal Statute Does Not Apply Retroactively

State v. Scudieri, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). Whether statutory amendments apply retroactively or prospectively is a recurring issue in the courts. This opinion by Judge Natali addresses...

Ullmann Rule Limiting Discovery of Tax Returns Applies to Corporate Returns As Well As Individual Returns

Parkinson v. Diamond Chemical Co., Inc., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). In Ullmann v. Hartford Fire Ins. Co., 87 N.J. Super. 409 (App. Div. 1965), the Appellate Division...

The Anniversary of Hodgson v. Applegate

On this date in 1959, the Supreme Court decided Hodgson v. Applegate, 31 N.J. 29 (1959). Over sixty years later, that opinion is still cited with regularity in cases applying...

The Supreme Court Adds More Cases

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in four more cases. Three of those involve grants of certification, while the fourth is before the Court on leave to...

How Should a Mortgage Company Use Insurance Proceeds Arising Out of Storm Damage? To Pay Delinquent Interest/Principal, or to Repair the Property?

Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB v. Daw, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). Judge Sabatino issued this opinion for the Appellate Division today, in a case that arises out...

A Mitigating Factor in Sentencing, and the "Rescue Doctrine," Come Before the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in two more cases. The Court has accelerated and set a peremptory briefing schedule in one of those cases, State v....

Supreme Court of New Jersey Year in Review, 2020-2021

Last year, for the first time, this blog offered an analysis of the Supreme Court's activity in the just-ended Term. It's now time to do that for the 2020-2021 Term...

A Gym's Claim for Compensation for COVID-19 Closures Under the Governor's Executive Orders Fails

JWC Fitness, LLC v. Murphy, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). This opinion by Judge Rothstadt involved the claims of plaintiff, a gym, for compensation from the State because...

Foreclosure on a Tax Sale Certificate is Averted on Particular Facts

Green Knight Capital, LLC v. Calderon, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). This was an action to foreclose a tax sale certificate. The sequence of procedural events was somewhat...

Two More Criminal Cases for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in two more criminal cases. Both are homicides. In State v. Derry, which actually involves two consolidated cases, the question presented,...

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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....