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

Supreme Court Will Review Tumpson v. Farina

The Supreme Court has granted certification to review the decision of the Appellate Division in Tumpson v. Farina, 431 N.J. Super. 164 (App. Div. 2013). The decision below is discussed here. The...

The Year's Longest Published Appellate Division Decision

Kaye v. Rosefielde, 432 N.J. Super. 421 (App. Div. 2013). This first post of the 2013-2014 Term focuses on the longest published decision issued by the Appellate Division in the just-ended 2012-2013...

Railroad Can Take Private Property if "Not Incompatible With the Public Interest" and as "The Exigencies of Business May Demand"

Norfolk Southern Railway Co. v. Intermodal Properties, LLC, 210 N.J. 261 (2013). New Jersey law allows railroads and public utilities to take private property by eminent domain. N.J.S.A. 48:3-17.7 requires that any such taking...

Statute of Repose Does Not Save Claims Barred by Statute of Limitations

Cumberland Cty. Bd. of Freeholders v. Vitetta Group, P.C., 431 N.J. Super. 596 (App. Div. 2013). Most cases involving the construction statute of repose, N.J.S.A. 2A:14-1.1, involve how to determine when the...

Two Mayors Lose on Abstention Vote Issue

Booker v. Rice, 431 N.J. Super. 548 (App. Div. 2013), and Zimmer v. Castellano, 432 N.J. Super. 412 (App. Div. 2013). In each of these cases (Booker involving the City of Newark...

Argument Not Raised Below, and Raised on Appeal Only in a Footnote, Would Not be Considered

Oyola v. Liu, 431 N.J. Super. 493 (App. Div. 2013). The main thrust of this opinion by Judge Alvarez was to affirm a decision of the Law Division that granted summary...

The Consumer Fraud Act in Condominium Construction Defect Litigation

Belmont Condominium Ass'n, Inc. v. Geibel, 432 N.J. Super. 52 (App. Div. 2013). This case resulted in another magnum opus by Judge Parrillo. Plaintiff sued over defective construction of a...

"In But Not Of" (Or Just "Of") is Dispositive of Clash Over COAH

In re Plan for the Abolition of the Council on Affordable Housing, 214 N.J. 444 (2013). The Council on Affordable Housing ("COAH") was established as part of the Legislature's response to the...

Supreme Court Says TCCWNA Gives Broad Protections to Consumers

Shelton v. Restaurant.com, Inc., 214 N.J. 419 (2013). [Disclosure: I argued this case in the Supreme Court for the successful plaintiffs]. This consumer protection case has had a long odyssey. Originally filed...

Supreme Court Denies Review of Senatorial Election Dispute

This afternoon, the Supreme Court issued an Order denying plaintiffs' petition for certification in this election matter. As the Order notes, that disposition moots plaintiffs' request for emergent relief. The special...

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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....