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

Dismissal for Failure to Provide Discovery is Interlocutory and, Thus, Not Immediately Appealable

Ott v. Guardian Protective Services, Inc.., 2011 WL 2297783 (App. Div. May 24, 2011). Final orders are immediately appealable, while interlocutory orders, which do not conclusively resolve all issues as to all parties, are interlocutory...

Abbott v. Burke XXI (or is it XXII?)- Lots of Appellate Practice Issues

Abbott v. Burke, 206 N.J. 332 (2011). The merits of this latest decision on the funding necessary to satisfy the mandate of article VIII, section 4, paragraph 1 of the New...

A Poor Judicial Product and a Disaster for Consumer Protection: A Lengthy Analysis of AT&T v. Concepcion

AT&T Mobility, LLC v. Concepcion, 131 S. Ct. 1740 (2011). From the same people who brought us the outrageous 5-4 decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 550 U.S....

Justice Alito Addresses the Third Circuit Judicial Conference

The 70th Third Circuit Judicial Conference began last night in Philadelphia. Those of us in attendance were treated to an interesting keynote address by the Third Circuit's (and New Jersey's)...

Appellate Division Keeps Carl Lewis From Getting Out of the Starting Blocks

Layton v. Lewis, 2011 WL 1632039 (App. Div. May 2, 2011). Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis filed papers to run for the New Jersey State Senate in the Democratic party primary....

A Vist from Justice Breyer

Two episodes of New Jersey Network's television program "Due Process," which are currently scheduled to air in June, will feature an interview with Supreme Court of the United States Justice Stephen Breyer by hosts Raymond Brown...

"Interests of Justice" Provision Does Not Aid Tax Appeal Plaintiffs Who Did Not Pay Subject Taxes Timely

Dover-Chester Associates v. Randolph Tp., 419 N.J. Super. 184 (App. Div. 2011). The procedural history of these consolidated appeals was somewhat convoluted, but the legal issue was straightforward, as Judge Espinosa phrased...

More Criticism of Strategies Contrived to Make an Interlocutory Order Appear Final

Conforti v. Kantorowski, 2011 WL 1433764 (App. Div. April 15, 2011). The Appellate Division often expresses displeasure, or worse, with stratagems designed to obtain immediate appellate review of a decision that is...

U.S. Supreme Court Makes Silly Standing Doctrine Sillier Still

Arizona Christian School Tuition Org. v. Winn, 131 S. Ct. 1436 (2011). New Jersey law may occasionally be difficult to fathom, but at least New Jersey does not have the sometimes bizarre...

Two New Pro-Consumer Decisions

RAB Performance Recoveries, LLC v. George, 419 N.J. Super. 81 (App. Div. 2011), and Cowger v. Cherry Hill Mitsubishi, Inc., 2011 WL 848133 (App. Div. March 14, 2011). The Appellate Division recently...

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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....