NJ Appellate Law Blog

Another Mount Laurel Case for the Supreme Court?

In re Declaratory Judgment Actions Filed by Various Municipalities, 446 N.J. Super. 259 (App. Div. 2016). It has been 41 years since the Supreme Court issued its original Mount Laurel...

A Separation of Powers Anniversary

On this date in 1992, the Supreme Court issued a landmark separation of powers opinion in Communications Workers of America v. Florio, 130 N.J. 439 (1992). There, state employees and...

Supreme Court Will Review State v. Buckner (Recall Judges Case)

Yesterday, as expected, the Supreme Court announced that an appeal as of right has been filed, and had been accepted by the Supreme Court, in State v. Buckner, 437 N..J....

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...

No Jury Trial Right Under the Insurance Fraud Prevention Act

Allstate New Jersey Ins. Co. v. Lajara, 433 N.J. Super. 20 (App. Div. 2013). Plaintiff insurers sued a number of defendants under the Insurance Fraud Prevention Act, N.J.S.A. 17:33A-1 to...

The "Narrowest Grounds" Doctrine

B.H. v. Easton Area School District, 725 F.3d 293 (3d Cir. 2013). The majority opinion in this en banc case, written by Judge Smith, begins as follows. "Once again, we...

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...

36 Years Since Mount Laurel I

On this date in 1975, the Supreme Court of New Jersey decided Southern Burlington Cty. NAACP v. Mount Laurel Tp., 67 N.J. 151 (1975). There, the Court held that each...

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Two Criminal Appeals and Two Eminent Domain Cases for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in four new cases. Two of them are criminal matters. The other two involve eminent domain issues. One of the criminal appeals is before the Court on leave to appeal, the second grant of leave to appeal in the current Term. The Court granted certification in the other three matters....

Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week: Can the Borough of Caldwell Recoup Payment for Professional Services That it Previously Made?

Tomorrow, September 11, a panel of judges on the Appellate Division's Part B will hear oral argument in Borough of Caldwell v. Cozzarelli-Cirminiello Architects, LLC. The case is before the Appellate Division following the grant of defendant's motion for leave to appeal the denial of its motion to dismiss the Complaint....

The First Published Appellate Division Opinion of the 2025-26 Term

Alcantara v. Moro, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). Judge Smith authored this opinion for the Appellate Division, that court's first published opinion of the new Term. The appeal was from a final decision of the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education that the School Funding Reform Act, N.J.S.A. 8A:7F-43 et seq. ("SFRA"), was constitutional as applied to the Township of Lakewood....

The First Supreme Court Grant of Review in the 2025-26 Term

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted leave to appeal in State v. Caneiro, a quadruple homicide case. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk's office, is "Under the circumstances presented, where defendant's house was on fire, was the warrantless seizure of evidence from the garage justified under the exigent circumstances exception to the warrant requirement?"...