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

No Declaration of Taking in Condemnation Matter? No Taking Occurred

Hoagland v. City of Long Branch, 428 N.J. Super. 321 (App. Div. 2012). Plaintiffs owned property in Long Branch as to which the City of Long Branch instituted condemnation proceedings. After...

Respondents May Need to Appeal in Order to Preserve Certain Arguments

HIP Heightened Independence and Progress, Inc. v. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, 693 F.3d 345 (3d Cir. 2012). Last year, the Third Circuit decided a case...

The Prerogative Writ of Mandamus

Mullen v. The Ippolito Corporation, 428 N.J. Super. 85 (App. Div. 2012). An action in lieu of prerogative writs can be used where, at common law, one of the designated...

Consumer Fraud Act Claim Against For-Profit Technical College May Proceed

Suarez v. Eastern International College, 428 N.J. Super. 10 (App. Div. 2012). Plaintiff enrolled at the defendant for-profit college, in its diagnostic medical ultrasound technician program. A school representative told...

A Lesson in Collateral Estoppel, and an Appellate Practice Nugget

Gannon v. American Home Products, Inc., 211 N.J. 454 (2012). This case presented the issue of whether a judgment against these personal injury plaintiffs in their federal court suit against the...

It's Tough to Get Around the Workers' Compensation Act's Ban on Employee Lawsuits Against Employers

Van Dunk v. Reckson Associates Realty Corp., 210 N.J. 449 (2012). New Jersey's Workers' Compensation Act, N.J.S.A. 34:15-1 to -128.5 ("the Act"), creates what is normally the sole recourse for an employee...

Will Properly Admitted to Probate Even Though Decedent Didn't Sign It

In re Estate of Richard Ehrlich, 427 N.J. Super. 64 (App. Div. 2012). Richard Ehrlich, a trust and estates lawyer, died. The only purported will of his that could be found was...

Wrongful Death Act Claim for Estate Tax Impact of Premature Death May Go Forward

Beim v. Hulfish, 427 N.J. Super. 560 (App. Div. 2012). The first paragraph of this very interesting opinion by Judge Harris, in an auto accident case, well encapsulates the novel issue presented:...

JCP&L Can be Liable for Negligent Placement of Electrical Pole

Seals v. County of Morris, 210 N.J. 157 (2012). While driving on a snow-covered road, plaintiffs could not negotiate a curve in the road and struck a JCP&L electrical pole located near the...

Interlocutory Appeal Treated as Final, But Appellant Loses Anyway

Rubessa v. Warner, 2012 WL 1468789 (App. Div. April 30, 2012). In spite of frequent warnings that interlocutory appeals improperly brought as final will be dismissed, the Appellate Division occasionally overlooks...

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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....