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

An Unpublished Opinion Saves the Day for an Insurance Company

Badiali v. New Jersey Manufacturer's Insurance Group, 220 N.J. 544 (2015). [Disclosure: My firm, Lite DePalma Greenberg, LLC, represents New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Company in certain litigation, but the firm...

Ratification of Originally Unauthorized Lawsuit by a Condominium Association

Port Liberte II Condominium Ass'n, Inc. v. New Liberty Residential Urban Renewal Co., LLC, 435 N.J. Super. 51 (App. Div. 2014). The caption in this case, a construction defect action...

Choice of Law in the Insurance Context

DeMarco v. Stoddard, 434 N.J. Super. 352 (App. Div. 2014). In P.V. v. Camp Jaycee, 197 N.J. 132 (2008), discussed here, the Supreme Court replaced the "governmental interest test" that had guided...

Ban on Discrimination Against the Unemployed in Job Advertisements is Constitutional

New Jersey Dept' of Labor & Workforce Development v. Crest Ultrasonics, 434 N.J. Super. 34 (App. Div. 2014). N.J.S.A. 34:8B-1 "bars employers seeking to fill job vacancies in this State...

Discovery and Severance

Procopio v. Gov't Employees Ins. Co., 433 N.J. Super. 377 (App. Div. 2013). As Judge Parrillo stated in today's opinion, rulings of trial level judges on discovery matters, and on whether...

The Fifth Circuit Addresses New Jersey's Economic Loss Doctrine

Lone Star Nat'l Bank, N.A. v. Heartland Payment Systems, Inc., 729 F.3d 421 (5th Cir. 2013). In September, the Fifth Circuit issued this short opinion that interprets and applies New...

Advisory Opinions, Subject Matter Jurisdiction, and More, in a Bankruptcy Case

In re Lazy Days' RV Center, Inc., 724 F.3d 418 (3d Cir. 2013). In this bankruptcy appeal, Judge Hardiman, writing for the panel, reversed a district court decision that had...

The Third Circuit Speaks About Rule 404(b) "Prior Bad Act" Evidence

Here is another guest post from Jeffrey A. Shooman, who was then my colleague at Lite DePalma Greenberg, LLC, on an important criminal law decision of the Third Circuit: United...

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,...

40 Years Since Berzito v. Gambino

On this date in 1973, the Supreme Court decided Berzito v. Gambino, 63 N.J. 460 (1973). Berzito was the third in a series of Supreme Court decisions that modernized residential...

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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....

"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....