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

DePascale to be Argued on March 26

The Supreme Court has scheduled oral argument in this potentially significant constitutional case for March 26 at 10 A.M. The courtroom may be filled to overflowing, but interested persons can...

A Mortgage Priority Dispute Between Banks: Equitable Subrogation

Investors Savings Bank v. Keybank Nat'l Ass'n, 424 N.J. Super. 439 (App. Div. 2012). It is not often that a suit between two banks results in a published opinion. This case, in which...

Presence of One Telecommuting Employee in New Jersey Subjects Out-of-State Company to New Jersey Corporation Business Tax

Telebright Corp., Inc. v. Director, New Jersey Div. of Taxation, 424 N.J. Super. 384 (App. Div. 2012). Plaintiff, a Delaware company with offices in Maryland, has an employee who telecommutes from New...

Hills Dev. Co. v. Bernards Tp.- Decided 26 Years Ago Today

On this date in 1986, the Supreme Court decided Hills Dev. Co v. Bernards Tp., 103 N.J. 1 (1986). At the time, it was one of the Court's most important...

Professional Association Has Standing to Sue on Behalf of Its Members, and Court Would Overlook Procedural Deficiency, But Association Still Loses on the Merits

New Jersey Dental Ass'n v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 424 N.J. Super. 160 (App. Div. 2012). Many cases have rightly held that, under New Jersey's liberal standing rules, organizations have standing to...

Dubious Legislation Redux

The same ill-conceived legislation to allow immediate appeals of all decisions on class certification that was introduced in the Assembly last year has been reintroduced this year by the same...

Warrant Required for Municipal Inspector to Enter Premises

State v. Heine, 424 N.J. Super. 48 (App. Div. 2012). Ellen Heine, the owner of a property in Garfield, was found guilty in municipal court of violating provisions of the Garfield property maintenance code....

Statute That Does Not Afford Jury Trial for Negligent Property Damage Claim is Unconstitutional

Jersey Central Power & Light Co. v. Melcar Utility Co., 212 N.J. 576 (2013). Article I, paragraph 9 of the New Jersey Constitution provides that "the right to trial by jury shall...

Judge Shwartz's Nomination to the Third Circuit Has Been Stalled

In October, President Obama nominated Judge Shwartz to a seat on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Senator Lautenberg promptly hailed that nomination. Senator Menendez did not. Today, major newspapers...

The Appellate Division Denies a Stay Pending Appeal in DePascale

On November 18, an Appellate Division panel consisting of Judges Carchman, Fisher and Nugent denied the State's motion for a stay pending the appeal, now before the Supreme Court on...

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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....