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

Plaintiffs Win Against Towing Companies in the Supreme Court, Except on Their TCCWNA Claims

Pisack v. B&C Towing, Inc., 240 N.J. 360 (2020). This matter involved multiple consolidated consumer class actions challenging the fees charged by the defendant towing companies, which towed plaintiffs' vehicles...

Judges Koblitz and Sumners Share Their Wisdom

Last night's meeting of the New Jersey State Bar Association's Appellate Practice Committee featured a guest appearance by Judges Koblitz and Sumners. They took questions and shared advice about appellate...

If a Defendant Waives a Personal Jurisdiction Defense, a Court Cannot Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction

Triffin v. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Auth., 462 N.J. Super. 172 (App. Div. 2020). Judge Fisher issued the Appellate Division's opinion on this appeal just eight days after it was argued....

No Conflict Preemption of New Jersey's Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act by the Federal Controlled Substances Act

Hager v. M&K Construction, 462 N.J. Super. 146 (App. Div. 2020). Issues relating to medical marijuana have been very contentious. Among other things, the fact that the federal government has...

How to Get Appellate Judges Angry: Attack Their Opinion as Too Concise

New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency v. A.L., 462 N.J. Super. 127 (App. Div. 2020). On October 28, 2019, in a per curiam opinion that can be found...

Fox Rothschild is Exonerated on Conversion Claim Made by a Non-Client Unknown to the Law Firm

Meisels v. Fox Rothschild LLP, 240 N.J. 286 (2020). Plaintiff was involved in a real estate transaction with a client of defendant Fox Rothschild, Weinstein. An intermediary for plaintiff wired...

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

Delanoy v. Township of Ocean, 462 N..J. Super. 78 (App. Div. 2020). The first New Jersey state court published opinion of 2020 goes to Judge Sabatino. The case arose under...

Acoli v. New Jersey State Parole Bd., Decided by a Split Appellate Division Panel, Will Likely Return to the Supreme Court

Acoli v. New Jersey State Parole Bd., 462 N.J. Super. 39 (App. Div. 2019). As Judge Fasciale's majority opinion in this case today states, "[i]n 1973, Sundiata Acoli murdered State...

Since Percocet Had Not Relieved Pain After Years of Use, Compensation Court Properly Denied Worker's Application for Benefits to Allow Continuation of Percocet

Martin v. Newark Public Schools, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2019). [Disclosure: My firm, Lite DePalma Greenberg, LLC, represents Newark Public Schools in certain matters, but had no involvement...

Four More Grants of Certification by the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in four more cases. Two of those are criminal appeals, and of the two civil appeals, one is from a published...

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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....