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

The Direct Action Statute and Arbitration

Crystal Point Condominium Ass'n v. Kinsale Ins. Co., 466 N.J. Super. 471 (App. Div. 2021). Plaintiff filed a construction defect litigation regarding balconies and slabs at plaintiff's 42-story condominium building....

Attorneys Whose Retainer Agreements Include Mandatory Arbitration for Malpractice Claims or Fee Disputes Must Explain the Arbitration Clause to the Client Up Front

Delaney v. Dickey, ___ N.J. ___ (2020). Justice Albin's opinion for a unanimous Supreme Court in this case today is an important one for attorneys and their clients. The Court...

Where a Party Denies Agreeing to Arbitration, a Court, Not an Arbitrator, Must Decide Threshold Issues of the Validity of the Agreement

Knight v. Vivint Solar Developer, LLC, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2020). In Goffe v. Foulke Mangagement Corp., 238 N.J. 191 (2019), the Supreme Court ruled that threshold issues...

Three Grants of Leave to Appeal, and a Total of Five New Cases for the Supreme Court

Supreme Court grants of leave to appeal are infrequent, but the Court's latest wave of five new cases taken up for review includes three appeals on leave. All of those...

The "Queen of All Threshold Issues" in Arbitration Law

MZM Construction Co., Inc. v. New Jersey Building Laborers Statewide Benefit Funds, 974 F.3d 386 (3d Cir. 2020). Decisions about arbitration just keep on coming, from both New Jersey and...

Arbitration Clause is Enforceable Despite Absence of Specified Arbitration Forum

Flanzman v. Jenny Craig, Inc., 244 N.J. 119 (2020). As discussed here, the Appellate Division in this employment discrimination case held that an arbitration provision that did not specify a...

Newark Validly Constituted a Civilian Complaint Review Board, But the Supreme Court Cuts Back That Board's Powers

Fraternal Order of Police, Newark Lodge No. 12 v. City of Newark, 244 N.J. 75 (2020). [Disclosure: My firm, Lite DePalma Greenberg, LLC, represents the City of Newark in various...

Employer's Arbitration Provision Enforceable Even Though Employer Labeled it a "Training Module," Since Employee Understood She Was Agreeing to Arbitration

Skuse v. Pfizer, Inc., 244 N.J. 30 (2020). As discussed here, the Appellate Division in this case reversed a trial level ruling that compelled the plaintiff employee to arbitrate a...

New Jersey Arbitration Act Applies Automatically to Contracts Exempt From Federal Arbitration Act

Arafa v. Health Express Corp., 243 N.J. 147 (2020). Justice Fernandez-Vina's opinion today actually involved two consolidated cases, both of which were putative class actions. The issue was whether a...

Avis Budget Group Cannot Force Customers to Arbitrate

Bacon v. Avis Budget Group, Inc., 959 F.3d 590 (3d Cir. 2020). Plaintiffs rented vehicles from defendant Payless Car Rental, Inc., a subsidiary of defendant Avis Budget Group, Inc. (together,...

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Appellate Division Published Opinions During and After Its Recess

The final day of the Appellate Division's two-week recess was April 25. On that date, the Appellate Division issued a published opinion. Two more published opinions followed during the current week. Here are summaries of those opinions....

"Ethics in Appellate Practice" Seminar at the NJSBA Annual Meeting on May 15

I will be moderating a panel titled "Ethics in Appellate Practice" that will help kick off Day 2 of the New Jersey State Bar Association Annual Meeting on May 15. The presentation will be from 8:45-10 AM. It will feature Judge Gummer of the Appellate Division and distinguished appellate practitioners with experience in and perspectives on ethics in the appellate context from both the plaintiffs' and the defendants' sides....

With the Appellate Division's Recess Over, The Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week is Another Waiver of Arbitration Case

On Tuesday, April 29, judges on Part F of the Appellate Division will hear oral argument in Newport Associates Development Co. v. Chubb Ins. Co. The appeal arises out of the denial by the Law Division of the motion of defendant AIG Specialty Insurance Company ("ASIC") to compel arbitration of plaintiffs' claim for indemnity in connection with underlying litigation with Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. and Public Service Electric and Gas Company. The Law Division held that ASIC had waived its contractual right to demand arbitration....

Another Quartet of New Cases for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in four new appeals. Three are from unpublished opinions of the Appellate Division, while the fourth is from a published decision in a criminal case....