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

Omission of Alleged Cross-Claim From Appellate Appendix Bars Arguments Based on That Pleading

One Step Up, Ltd.v. Sam Logistic, Inc., 419 N.J. Super. 500 (App. Div. 2011). This opinion by Judge Graves contains a good discussion of a bailor's rights and responsibilities in connection with...

Don't Wait 364 Days to Move for Relief Under Rule 4:50

Orner v. Liu, 419 N.J. Super. 431 (App. Div. 2011). This case involved a motion under several sections of Rule 4:50-1 for relief from a judgment. Defendants, the movants, waited until one...

When the Supreme Court Made Orders Compelling Arbitration Immediately Appealable

On this date in 2008, the Supreme Court of New Jersey decided Wein v. Morris, 194 N.J. 364 (2008). That case involved an order dismissing a lawsuit and directing that...

No April Fool

On April Fool's Day, 1968, the Supreme Court of New Jersey decided McLaughlin v. Bassing, 51 N.J. 410 (1968). In a one-sentence ruling, the Court reversed the Appellate Division's dismissal...

Amendment to Rule 1:13-9 (Amici Curiae on Appeal)

The Supreme Court has amended Rule 1:13-9, which deals with amici curiae. The amendment provides that where the Supreme Court or the Appellate Division has directed the parties to submit...

Former Assemblyman Has No Right to Appeal to Appellate Division, But Wins His Appeal There Anyway

Vas v. Roberts, 418 N.J. Super. 509 (App. Div. 2011). Former Assemblyman Joseph Vas was indicted while in office for crimes of public corruption. In response to those indictments, then Assembly Speaker...

All Five Women Supreme Court Justices Speak

Imagine that someone assembled Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant to discuss how to win NBA championships. The parallel to such a gathering, for those interested...

"No Counterclaims" Clause in Loan Agreement is Invalid

Investors Savings Bank v. Waldo Jersey City LLP, 418 N.J. Super. 149 (App. Div. 2011). A loan agreement provided that all documents relating to the loan were legal, valid, binding and enforceable,...

Interlocutory Appeals From PIP Arbitration Decisions are Not Allowed

Allstate New Jersey Ins. Co. v. Neurology Pain Associates, 418 N.J. Super. 246 (App. Div. 2011). The Automobile Insurance Cost Reduction Act ("AICRA") changed the way personal injury protection ("PIP") benefit arbitrations...

Mortgagee Lacks Standing to Enforce Note and Mortgage Unless Documents are Properly Authenticated

Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Ford, 418 N.J. Super. 592 (App. Div. 2011). The question of whether foreclosing mortgagees have the proper proofs to support their cases has been all over the news...

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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....