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

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...

An Assortment of New Cases for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in five new cases. They include a consumer class action, a parole matter, a criminal appeal, and two insurance-related cases. The...

Back in Action

The appellate courts have not been idle since the most recent post on this blog. Opinions have been issued, the Supreme Court has taken up more cases for review, and...

Breaking the Silence

February 26 was the most recent post on this blog. From then until today, I have had an Appellate Division oral argument, an oral argument on a dispositive motion in...

52 Years Since a Landmark in Real Estate Brokerage Commission Law

On December 18, 1967, the Supreme Court decided Ellsworth Dobbs, Inc. v. Johnson, 50 N.J. 528 (1967). The Court's 6-0 opinion, authored by Justice Francis, overturned nearly 100 years of...

Parties' Stipulation Waived Right to Appeal

In re Odyssey Contracting Corp., ___ F.3d ___ (3d Cir. 2019). Odyssey Contracting Corp. and L&L Painting Co., Inc., were (respectively) a subcontractor and the prime contractor on a project...

"Pay and Go" Landlord-Tenant Settlement Constituted an Accord and Satisfaction

Raji v. Saucedo, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2019). Judge Fisher's first published opinion of the current Term was another model of concision, consuming less than eight pages. The...

Busy Days at the Third Circuit, Part 2

Yesterday's post noted that the Third Circuit has published a number of opinions in recent days. Here are summaries of some more of those opinions, all of which emanate from...

Busy Days at the Third Circuit

Though the Supreme Court of New Jersey and the Appellate Division are only just beginning to ramp up in the new Term, the Third Circuit has been pumping out published...

Three More Supreme Court Grants of Review

The Supreme Court announced that is has granted certification in three more cases. Two of them are criminal appeals. The third is an insurance case in which, due to a...

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South Seaside Park Can Detach Itself From Berkeley Township

Whiteman v. Township Council of Berkeley Township, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). South Seaside Park is a small (490 year-round residents) barrier island community that has been annexed to the Township of Berkeley ("the Township"). South Seaside Park sought to deannex itself from the Township and to be annexed instead to the Borough of Seaside Park. South Seaside Park followed a statutory petitioning procedure in doing so. The Township refused consent. South Seaside Park went to court and won a ruling from the Law Division that rejected the Township's refusal. The Appellate Division affirmed. Yesterday, in a unanimous opinion by Justice Patterson, the Supreme Court affirmed as well....

Megan's Law "Not Likely to Pose a Threat to the Safety of Others" Extends to Non-Sexual as Well as Sexual Re-Offenses

In re Registrant S.O., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). This appeal presented a pure legal issue relating to the "public safety prongs" contained in the termination provisions of Megan's Law, N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2(f), and the Community Supervision for Life statute ("CSL"), N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6.4(c). Judge Vanek crystallized that "novel" issue as "whether, on a registrant's application to terminate Megan's Law and CSL obligations, the phrase ‘not likely to pose a threat to the safety of others' should be broadly interpreted with the trial court considering threats to safety from subsequent non-sexual and sexual offenses or whether the inquiry should be limited to the threat of sexual re-offense only." The panel held that the broader view was the correct one....

Using Proof of Habit or Routine Practice as Evidence of Conduct in a Particular Instance

Fazio v. Altice USA, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). As Justice Fasciale noted in his opinion for a unanimous Supreme Court today, "[h]abit evidence is particularly well suited for cases involving reasonably regular and uniform routine practices of business organizations." New Jersey Evidence Rule 406 permits proof of conduct in a particular instance via the presentation of habit or routine practice. The application of that Rule was at the center of this appeal....

Two Published Appellate Division Decisions in This Short Week

Tomorrow is Independence Day and the courts are closed. Many have taken vacation time in this short week. But not the Appellate Division, which issued two published opinions this week. Here are summaries....