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

Insurer Under "Claims Made" Policy Issued to Sophisticated Insured Need Not Show Prejudice From Late Notice of Claim in Order to Disclaim Coverage

Templo Fuente De Vida Corp. v. Nat'l Union Fire Ins. Co., 224 N.J. 189 (2016). Insurance policies normally require insureds to provide timely notice of claims against them to their...

Wrongful Denial of a Trial Adjournment, and Other Flaws, Lead to Reversal of a $2 Million Plaintiff's Verdict

Berkowitz v. Soper, 443 N.J. Super. 391 (App. Div. 2016). In this auto accident case, defendant was unexpectedly hospitalized for a "heart issue" two business days before trial was to...

Berry Unfortunate for Plaintiff, But Slip and Fall Claim Fails

Troupe v. Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corp., 443 N.J. Super. 596 (App. Div. 2016). Today, Judge Suter authored her first published opinion for the Appellate Division. While shopping at a...

The Supreme Court Lays Out the Procedures for Cases Under the Grandparent Visitation Statute

Major v. Maguire, 224 N.J. 1 (2016). The Grandparent Visitation Statute, N.J.S.A. 9:2-7.1, permits grandparents to apply for visitation rights with their grandchildren even where the children's parents object. In...

Motions in Limine Cannot be Used as a Last-Minute, Short Notice Substitute for a Motion for Summary Judgment

Cho v. Trinitas Regional Medical Center, 443 N.J. Super. 461 (App. Div. 2015). In this medical malpractice case, the only remaining defendant, a doctor, filed what was labeled as "motions...

Parent Did Not "Abandon" Child So As to Lose Right to Share of Son's Intestate Estate

In re Estate of Michael D. Fisher, II, 443 N.J. Super. 180 (App. Div. 2015). Under N.J.S.A. 3B:5-4(b), when a person dies with no spouse or children, the person's parents...

OPRA Records Custodian Cannot Bring Declaratory Judgment Case to Preempt OPRA Suit by Requestor

In re New Jersey Firemen's Ass'n Obligation to Provide Relief Applications Under the Open Public Records Act, 443 N.J. Super. 238 (App. Div. 2015). The OPRA (Open Public Records Act)...

OPRA Demand for Information About Certain Out-of-State Travel by Governor Christie Was Properly Denied

Lagerkvist v. Office of the Governor, 443 N.J. Super. 230 (App. Div. 2015). Plaintiff, a journalist, made a request under the Open Public Records Act, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq. ("OPRA")...

An Easy Statute of Limitations Case for the Supreme Court

In re Petition for Referendum to Repeal Ordinance 2354-12 of West Orange Tp., 223 N.J. 589 (2015). This appeal involved the timeliness of a challenge to a bond ordinance for...

Weakness of State Action Argument in Civil Rights Act Nude Entertainment Case is Laid Bare and Exposed

PRBA Corp. v. HMS Host Toll Roads, Inc., 808 F.3d 221 (3d Cir. 2015). Plaintiff, which does business as Bare Exposure, operates a "gentleman's club" in Atlantic City. The club...

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The Supreme Court Clarifies New Jersey's Automobile Exception to the Requirement of a Search Warrant

State v. Fenimore, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). Both the United States and New Jersey Constitutions protect the people against "unreasonable searches and seizures" and prohibit the issuance of search warrants without "probable cause." Both federal and New Jersey law, however, recognize an "automobile exception" to the warrant requirement. But New Jersey's automobile exception is narrower than the federal exception, as the Supreme Court stated in State v. Witt, 223 N.J. 409 (2015). Today, the Supreme Court ruled that the Appellate Division in this case had interpreted Witt too broadly in reversing a Law Division decision to exclude evidence from a warrantless search. The Supreme Court reversed and excluded the evidence....

"Liberal Standards" for Standing "Are Not Equivalent to No Standards At All," the Supreme Court Says

New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers, Inc. v. Ford Motor Co., ___ N.J. ___ (2025). As Justice Pierre-Louis observed in her opinion for a unanimous Court in this case today, New Jersey state courts have long "take[n] a more liberal approach to standing than federal law." But in this appeal, the statute sued upon, the Franchise Practices Act, N.J.S.A. 56:10-1 et seq. ("FPA"), stated that only a "franchisee" could sue its franchisor. Because plaintiff here ("NJCAR") was not a franchisee but an association of franchisees, NJCAR lacked standing to bring a FPA case....

Compassionate Release Act Does Not Require Physical Examination of Inmates Seeking Relief, But Denial of Relief in This Case Was Arbitrary and Capricious

M.R. v. New Jersey Department of Corrections, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). Plaintiff appealed the denial of his petition for release under the Compassionate Release Act, N.J.S.A. 30:4-123.51 ("CRA"). He argued that he had not been physically examined by a physician, and that the statute required a physical examination. The Appellate Division determined that the statute did not require a physical examination and upheld the denial of compassionate release. Today, in a unanimous opinion by Justice Hoffman, the Supreme Court agreed that no physical examination was required, but reversed the denial of compassionate relief as insupportable....

Prosecutor's Prejudicial Comments During Summation Required Vacation of Conviction on Weapons and Criminal Restraint Charges

State v. Kelly, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). Judge Gummer wrote the panel's opinion in this case. The panel reversed defendant's conviction on weapons and criminal restraint charges, based on a set of facts remarkably similar to those in State v. Daniels, 182 N.J. 80 (2004)....