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

A Very Important Ruling About Late Notices of Tort Claim

D.D. v. University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey, 213 N.J. 130 (2013). Under the New Jersey Tort Claims Act, N.J.S.A. 59:8-1 et seq. ("TCA"), no lawsuit can be filed against...

A Court Cannot Find "Abuse" or "Neglect" of Child Where Mother Used Drugs During Pregnancy But No Harm Resulted to the Child

Division of Youth & Family Servs. v. A.L., 213 N.J. 1 (2013). When A.L. was admitted to the hospital to give birth to her son, A.D., she tested positive for cocaine. The...

2010 Amendment to Statute of Frauds Can Apply to Palimony Agreements Made Prior to Amendment's Effective Date

Maeker v. Ross, 430 N.J. Super. 79 (App. Div. 2013). In 2010, the Legislature amended the Statute of Frauds, N.J.S.A. 25:1-5(h), to cover "palimony" agreements, that is, "[a] promise by one party to...

Retroactivity … and the Effect of Statutory Numbering

Chiarello v. PERS Bd. of Trustees, 429 N.J. Super. 194 (App. Div. 2012). This opinion by Judge Fisher addressed the question of whether the application of plaintiff for a disability retirement from...

An Unusual Power of the Governor

In re Veto of Minutes of New Jersey Racing Comm'n, 429 N.J. Super. 277 (App. Div. 2012). This case, in which Judge Messano wrote the Appellate Division's opinion, involved an unusual statutory...

Damage Claims Against Port Authority Barred Because Plaintiff Had Not Given Pre-Suit Notice

Santiago v. New York & New Jersey Port Authority, 429 N.J. Super. 150 (App. Div. 2012). N.J.S.A. 32:1-163 states that "in the case of any suit, action or proceeding for the recovery...

Draft Agency Report is Absolutely Protected From Disclosure Under Open Public Records Act; Government Records Council May Not Decide Common Law Right of Access Claims

Ciesla v. New Jersey Dep't of Health & Senior Services, 429 N.J. Super. 127 (App. Div. 2012). This was an appeal of a decision of the Government Records Council ("GRC"), the state...

Strasenburgh v. Straubmuller

On this date in 1996, the Supreme Court decided Strasenburgh v. Straubmuller, 146 N.J. 527 (1996). Justice O'Hern's opinion for a unanimous Court addressed a number of intricate issues involving...

Appeals From Agency Inaction, and When "Shall" Does Not Necessarily Mean "Must"

Natural Medical, Inc. v. New Jersey Dep't of Health & Human Services, 428 N.J. Super. 259 (App. Div. 2012). This decision, written by Judge Parrillo, involved plaintiff's interest in opening an...

Standing to Appeal

United States v. Stoerr, 695 F.3d 271 (3d Cir. 2012). Defendant was convicted of participating in bid-rigging and receiving kickbacks while employed at Sevenson Environmental Services, Inc. ("Sevenson"). Sevenson, which...

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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....