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

"Mode-of-Operation" Liability for Negligence

Arroyo v. Durling Realty, LLC, 443 N.J. Super. 238 (App. Div. 2013). Judge Sabatino may be best known for his lengthy, scholarly published opinions in complex cases such as this one or...

Privacy: The Right to Freedom From Unwarranted Intrusion

Soliman v. The Kushner Companies, Inc., 433 N.J. Super. 153 (App. Div. 2013). Defendants secretly installed hidden surveillance cameras in bathrooms in an office building that they operated. The stated reason...

Supreme Court Will Review Same-Sex Marriage Case

On Friday, the Supreme Court announced that it would grant the State's application for direct certification to review the September 27 ruling of the Law Division that granted summary judgment...

Supreme Court Will Review Maeker v. Ross (Palimony/Statute of Frauds), and Townsend v. Pierre (Evidence/Proximate Cause)

The Supreme Court announced late yesterday that it had granted certification to review Maeker v. Ross, 430 N.J. Super. 79 (App. Div. 2013). The decision of the Appellate Division is...

CEPA and "Watchdog" Employees

Lippman v. Ethicon, Inc., 432 N.J. Super. 378 (App. Div. 2013). Today's opinion under the Conscientious Employee Protection Act, N.J.S.A. 34:19-1 to -8 ("CEPA"), written by Judge Fuentes, reversed a summary...

Party Who Litigated for 21 Months Waived Right to Compel Arbitration

Cole v. Jersey City Medical Center, 215 N.J. 165 (2013). In Cole v. Jersey City Medical Center, 425 N.J. Super. 48 (App. Div. 2012), discussed here, the Appellate Division ruled that defendant,...

Statute of Repose Does Not Save Claims Barred by Statute of Limitations

Cumberland Cty. Bd. of Freeholders v. Vitetta Group, P.C., 431 N.J. Super. 596 (App. Div. 2013). Most cases involving the construction statute of repose, N.J.S.A. 2A:14-1.1, involve how to determine when the...

Argument Not Raised Below, and Raised on Appeal Only in a Footnote, Would Not be Considered

Oyola v. Liu, 431 N.J. Super. 493 (App. Div. 2013). The main thrust of this opinion by Judge Alvarez was to affirm a decision of the Law Division that granted summary...

The Appellate Division Applies the Restatement (Third) of Property- Mortgages

Sovereign Bank v. Gillis, 432 N.J. Super. 36 (App. Div. 2013). This opinion by Judge Sabatino is an example of how a brief introduction can encapsulate an entire, highly detailed opinion. Here...

Another Big Win for the Hoboken Rent Board

Heyert v. Taddese, 431 N.J. Super. 388 (App. Div. 2013). [Disclosure: My firm, Lite DePalma Greenberg, LLC, represented the Hoboken Rent Leveling & Stabilization Board in this appeal and in the other...

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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....