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

Apparent Authority Must be Manifested by a Communication of the Principal, Not of the Agent

Gayles v. Sky Zone Trampoline Park, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). Here is how Judge Messano began his opinion for the Appellate Division today: "Joan Tongol invited several...

Pre-Marital Agreements, Mid-Marital Agreements, Property Settlement Agreements, and (Today's Case) Agreements in the Nature of a Mid-Marital Agreement

Steele v. McDonnell Steele, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). Judge Enright's decision for the Appellate Division in this case today involved an appeal of the Family Part's enforcement...

Justice Pierre-Louis's First Opinion for the Court

State v. Outland, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). This unanimous ruling was the first opinion authored by Justice Pierre-Louis. It was a robbery case in which defendant, who had a prior...

A Forfeited Argument, Reviewed Nonetheless for Plain Error (Unlike a Waived Argument) Saves the Day for a Criminal Defendant

United States v. Brito, 979 F.3d 185 (3d Cir. 2020). As discussed here, waiver of an argument occurs when a party intentionally relinquishes or abandons a contention, while forfeiture is...

Arbitration Clause is Enforceable Despite Absence of Specified Arbitration Forum

Flanzman v. Jenny Craig, Inc., 244 N.J. 119 (2020). As discussed here, the Appellate Division in this employment discrimination case held that an arbitration provision that did not specify a...

Employer's Arbitration Provision Enforceable Even Though Employer Labeled it a "Training Module," Since Employee Understood She Was Agreeing to Arbitration

Skuse v. Pfizer, Inc., 244 N.J. 30 (2020). As discussed here, the Appellate Division in this case reversed a trial level ruling that compelled the plaintiff employee to arbitrate a...

New Jersey Arbitration Act Applies Automatically to Contracts Exempt From Federal Arbitration Act

Arafa v. Health Express Corp., 243 N.J. 147 (2020). Justice Fernandez-Vina's opinion today actually involved two consolidated cases, both of which were putative class actions. The issue was whether a...

Making Up Ground

Due to a personal matter, there have been no posts on this blog since June 2. This post will summarize some of the decisions from our appellate courts since that...

Appellate Oral Arguments in the Time of Coronavirus

As announced here, the Supreme Court of the United States today advised that, "in light of public health concerns," it is postponing oral arguments that had been scheduled for March...

Counsel Who Represented a State Witness in a Murder Case is Disqualified From Representing the Defendant in That Same Case

State v. Faulcon, 462 N.J. Super. 250 (App. Div. 2020). Judge Koblitz did not leave readers in suspense about the outcome of her opinion for the Appellate Division today. Her...

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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....