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

A Qualified Immunity Case and a Tort Claims Act/Legal Malpractice Case for the Supreme Court

Add two more cases to the Supreme Court's docket. One of them is before the Court as of right, by virtue of a dissent in the Appellate Division. In the...

Appellate Courts Can Decline to Review Arguments Made Below as to Other Issues, But Not as to the Issue Actually on Appeal

Chirino v. Proud 2 Haul, Inc., 458 N.J. Super. 308 (App. Div. 2017), aff'd o.b., 237 N.J. 440 (2019). There is a long-settled general rule that an appellate court will...

No Surprise: The U.S. Supreme Court Says "Ambiguous" Arbitration Agreements Do Not Permit Class Arbitration

Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela, 139 S. Ct. 407 (2019). In Stolt-Nielsen, S.A. v. AnimalFeedsInt'l Corp., 559 U.S. 662 (2010), the Supreme Court of the United States, by a 5-3...

The Next Third Circuit Bench-Bar Judicial Conference is Planned for Philadelphia in Spring 2020

It has been announced that the Third Circuit is planning its next Bench-Bar Judicial Conference for a still-to-be-decided date in the spring of 2020. The Conference will take place in...

Insubstantial Constitutional Issues Don't Afford an Appeal to the Supreme Court as of Right

On this date in 1965, the Supreme Court decided Tidewater Oil Co. v. Mayor & Council of Borough of Carteret, 44 N.J. 338 (1965), a municipal land use case. That...

Two More for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in two more cases. In the first matter, State v. Medina, the question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk's...

The Appellate Division Must Adhere to Supreme Court Precedents, Despite Contrary Appellate Division Authority

Liberty Mutual Insurance v. Rodriguez, 458 N.J. Super. 515 (App. Div. 2019). This short opinion by Judge Firko today involved how to calculate reimbursement to an insurer for its workers'...

Two More Criminal Cases, and Another Arbitration Case, for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced today that it has granted certification to review three cases. Two of them are criminal appeals. The third is another case involving an arbitration agreement. The...

Zoning Board of Adjustment Conflicts of Interest

Piscitelli v. City of Garfield Bd. of Adj., 237 N.J. 333 (2019). Conflict of interest issues are often sticky. That was doubly so in this case, which the Supreme Court...

The Supreme Court Takes Up a Gun Permit Case

The Supreme Court announced late today that it has granted certification in In re Application for Permit to Carry a Handgun of Calvin Carlstrom. The question presented on that appeal,...

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A Municipal Court Administrator is Employed by the Township, Not the Administrative Office of the Courts

Palmisano v. State of New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). The opening paragraph of Judge Marczyk's opinion for the Appellate Division well encapsulates what the appeal was about and what the result was. "Plaintiff Lindsay Palmisano appeals from the trial court's April 1, 2024 order dismissing her complaint with prejudice against defendant State of New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts and Municipal Division (AOC) pursuant to Rule 4:6-2(e). The primary issue on appeal is whether plaintiff, a municipal court administrator, is an employee of the AOC, thereby allowing her to assert a claim against the AOC under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD), N.J.S.A. 10:5-1 to -49. Based on our review of the record and the applicable legal principles, we conclude plaintiff was employed by Vernon Township (Township), not the AOC, and, therefore, we affirm."...

Supreme Court to Take Up Two Published Appellate Division Opinions

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in two new appeals. One is before the Court on leave to appeal. The Court granted certification in the other matter....

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....