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

The Latest Grants of Supreme Court Review: Life Insurance (Another Certified Question), Unemployment Compensation, Parental Rights, and Parole Ineligibility

The Supreme Court announced four more cases that will come before it. The subject matters, and the paths that the cases took to reach the Court, are quite varied. Sun...

Another Expedited Criminal Appeal for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced today that it has granted review in State v. Hyppolite. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk's Office, is "Did the State withhold...

Allocation Among Multiple Defendants of Attorneys' Fees Under Fee-Shifting Statutes

Empower our Neighborhoods v. Guadagno, 453 N.J. Super. 565 (App. Div. 2018). This was an election case under the federal and New Jersey civil rights acts, both of which provide...

The Supreme Court Will Re-Visit Health Club Waivers of Liability

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in Pulice v. Greenbrook Sports & Fitness, LLC. The question presented in that appeal, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk's...

Absolute vs. Qualified Immunity Under the Tort Claims Act

Lee v. Brown, 232 N.J. 114 (2018). [Disclosure: My firm, Lite DePalma Greenberg, LLC, represented certain defendants in this case who were dismissed from the case on motion prior to...

The Anniversary of 525 Main St. Corp. v. Eagle Roofing Corp.

On this date in 1961, the Supreme Court decided 525 Main St. Corp. v. Eagle Roofing Corp., 34 N.J. 251 (1961). The Court's opinion, a 5-0 decision, was written by...

The Last Few Weeks, Part 1

Due to an unusual amount of business travel (alas, only to three cold-weather locations) and a hefty appellate brief, I have not been able to keep up with the courts...

The Last Few Weeks, Part 2

Last week, the Supreme Court announced that it had granted certification in five more cases. Three of them are criminal appeals, one involves additur after a jury verdict, and one...

Another Certified Question Case From the Third Circuit, and Another Criminal Appeal, for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it will take up two more matters. One is a certified question from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in a consumer protection context, specifically,...

The Latest Grants of Review by the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in three more cases. One of them is yet another case under the Open Public records Act, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq....

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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....