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

The Supreme Court in the Second Half of November

After a first half of November with no Supreme Court opinions, the Court issued five opinions in the second half. Two of those decisions were discussed here and here. This...

The First Published Appellate Division Decisions of October

Today, and on two days last week, the Appellate Division issued its first published opinions since September 29. Here are summaries of those decisions. Meyers v. State Health Benefit Commission...

The Supreme Court Begins the New Term by Granting Review in Five Cases

The Supreme Court announced the first grants of review in the new Term. The Court took up five cases. Two of those are before the Court on leave to appeal...

The First Week of August

The dog days of summer often see the Supreme Court and the Appellate Division issuing opinions in cases argued earlier in the Term. The Third Circuit is often more active...

An Opinion About Stays From Judge Accurso

In re New Jersey Transit Award of Contracts No. 21-048A and 21-048B, 473 N.J. Super. 261 (App. Div. 2022). Published opinions from appellate courts about stays are relatively rare. Today,...

The 2,000th Post on This Blog: The Anniversary of Campbell v. Department of Civil Service

On this date in 1963, the Supreme Court decided Campbell v. Department of Civil Service, 39 N.J. 556 (1963). The opinion, by Justice Jacob s for a unanimous Court, has...

Two Opinions by Judge Whipple

Grandvue Manor, LLC v. Cornerstone Contracting Corp., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2022); Sullivan v. Board of Review, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2022). Both of these opinions,...

Two Accelerated Appeals, and Four More, for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in six cases. Three of those involve grants of leave to appeal and three are grants of certification. The Court accelerated...

Workers' Compensation Benefits Were Due to Plaintiff, Under the "Premises Rule"

Lapsley v. Sparta Tp., ___ N.J. ___ (2022). As discussed here, this Workers' Compensation Act case was one in which plaintiff, a librarian at the Sparta Public Library, was walking...

As 2021 Winds Down, the Supreme Court Takes Up Two More Cases

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in two more cases. Both involved grants of certification. One appeal, a civil matter, is from a published opinion by a...

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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....