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

The Past Week in the Appellate Division

Since last Friday, one week ago, the Appellate Division issued three published opinions (not counting its opinion in the Verizon case that the Supreme Court decided yesterday, in which the...

Judge Accurso is Assigned to Part C of the Appellate Division for a Short Time, and the Overall Parts Lineup is Rejiggered

Chief Justice Rabner announced that Judge Accurso has been assigned to the Appellate Division's Part C for the period of September 1, 2024-October 31, 2024. The relevant Order is here....

The 2024-25 General Assignment Order

The 2024-25 General Assignment has been issued and is available here. As was true in the 2023-24 Term, there are seven Parts. All but Part C, which has five judges,...

Judges Augostini, Bergman, Jacobs, and Torregrossa-O'Connor Are Again Temporarily Assigned to the Appellate Division

As discussed here, Judges Augostini, Bergman, Jacob, and Torregrossa-O'Connor were temporarily assigned to particular Parts of the Appellate Division for the period of March 25-May 19, 2024. Chief Justice Rabner...

Justice Alan B. Handler (1931-2024)

Justice Alan B. Handler died on May 23. He was 92 years old. Justice Handler served on the Supreme Court of New Jersey for 22 years, from 1977 through 1999...

It's That Time Again: Appellate Division Summer Parts

In an Order available here, Chief Justice Rabner announced the summer Part schedule for the Appellate Division. The term "Summer Parts," which has not been formally used by the courts...

The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination and Emotional Support Animals in Condominiums

Players Place II Condominium Ass'n, Inc. v. K.P., 256 N.J. 472 (2024). This case came to the Supreme Court as of right, due to a dissent in the Appellate Division...

Big Changes in the Appellate Division

In orders dated yesterday and published this morning, Chief Justice Rabner announced significant changes in the Appellate Division. Four new judges have been temporarily elevated to that court, while a...

Supreme Court Statistics for the 2022-23 Term

What better date to present statistics from the 2022-23 Supreme Court Term than the first working day (for many people) of this new calendar year? And who better to have...

Judges Vanek and Vinci Are Again Temporarily Elevated to the Appellate Division

Chief Justice Rabner announced that Judges Christine Vanek and Robert Vinci have been temporarily assigned to the Appellate Division. Both assignments are effective on January 2, 2024 and have no...

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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....