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

No Constitutional Right to Appeal Undocketed Grievance Against Attorney

O'Boyle v. District I Ethics Committee, 421 N.J. Super. 457 (App. Div. 2011). Judge Axelrad's opinion in this case begins as follows: "Rule 1:20-3(h) provides that in cases where a grievance that was...

Oral Settlement Agreement Reached During Mediation May be Enforced

Willingboro Mall, Ltd. v. 240/242 Franklin Avenue, LLC, 421 N.J. Super. 445 (App. Div. 2011). Normally, any settlement, even an oral settlement agreement, can be enforced. The question in this case was...

Supply the Full Trial Transcript or You Will Lose Your Appeal

Cable v. Rodig, 2011 WL 3425570 (App. Div. Aug. 8, 2011). In order for an appellate court to understand what happened below, and to review those goings-on, the appellate court...

New Jersey Appellate Rule Amendments Effective September 1, 2011

The Supreme Court of New Jersey has adopted changes to two appellate rules. Both changes will go into effect on September 1, 2011. First, the list of judgments deemed to...

When May a Plaintiff Proceed Anonymously?

Doe v. Megless, ___ F.3d ___ (3d Cir. 2011). Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 10(a) requires that the title of a complaint "name all the parties." Despite that, in exceptional circumstances, courts...

Submitting a Certification in Support of a Motion to Dismiss a Complaint Converts The Motion to a Summary Judgment Motion

Raverta v. Lake Mohawk Golf Club, 2011 WL 3207945 (App. Div. July 29, 2011). Rule 4:6-2(e) allows a defendant to move to dismiss a complaint for failure to state a claim....

An Unpublished Appellate Division Decision is Binding on the Parties to that Ruling

Triffin v. Capital One, 2011 WL 2848271 (App. Div. July 20, 2011). Under Rule 1:36-3, "[n]o unpublished opinion shall constitute precedent," and "except to the extent required by res judicata, collateral estoppel, the single...

In New Jersey, A Class Action is Not Appropriate for Telephone Consumer Protection Act (Unwanted Faxes) Claims

Local Baking Products, Inc. v. Kosher Bagel Munch, Inc., 421 N.J. Super. 268 (App. Div. 2011). The Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. §227 ("TCPA"), prohibits the sending of unsolicited...

A Rarity: The Supreme Court Will Answer Questions Certified to it by the Third Circuit

Rules 2:12A-1 et seq. provide a procedure under which the Third Circuit Court of Appeals can certify a question of law to the Supreme Court of New Jersey "if the...

Oral Argument on Substantive Civil Motions Under Rule 1:6-2(d): A Modest Proposal

LVNV Funding, LLC v. Colvell, 421 N.J. Super. 1 (App. Div. 2011). This opinion, by Judge Koblitz, reversed summary judgment for a creditor on a revolving credit card account and...

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No Ethics Violation in Attorney Purchasing Another Attorney's Name as a Keyword for Internet Searches, the Supreme Court Says, With a Caveat

In re Opinion No. 735 of the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). [Disclosure: I represented an amicus curiae in this appeal]. As Justice Noriega said in his opinion for a 5-1 majority (Justice Pierre-Louis did not participate), this appeal "presents the narrow question of whether it is permissible under the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) for an attorney or law firm to purchase a competing attorney's or law firm's name as a keyword." The Court found it permissible, with a caveat. Justice Fasciale dissented....

Four Criminal Law Cases, and a Qui Tam Appeal, for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced today that it has granted review in five new appeals. One of them is before the Court on leave to appeal, while in the others the Court granted certification....

The "Limited Attorney Exemption" of the Debt Adjustment and Credit Counseling Act is Held Unconstitutional as Violative of the Separation of Powers and Void for Vagueness

Anchor Law Firm, PLLC v. State of New Jersey, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). The Debt Adjustment and Credit Counseling Act, N.J.S.A. 17:16G-1 et seq. ("DACCA"), prohibits debt adjusters in New Jersey from operating for a profit. There is an exception for attorneys not "principally engaged" (a term not defined in the statute) in debt adjustment. That exception, adopted in a 1986 amendment, replaced a prior version of the DACCA that had exempted all attorneys from its scope....

Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week: Where a Party Files a Suit Alleged to Violate the UPEPA But Quickly Dismisses It, Can Defendants Then Get Counsel Fees Under the Statute?

On May 15, judges on Part C of the Appellate Division will hear oral argument in Satz v. Keshet Starr. Plaintiff, acting pro se, filed a defamation suit against defendants. Defendants filed an o order to show cause to dismiss the case and for attorneys' fees under the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act, N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-49 et seq. ("UPEPA"). The UPEPA, enacted in 2023, sought to make it more difficult to use the legal system as a weapon to bully individuals into silence by filing what have been known as SLAPP ("strategic lawsuits against public participation") suits....