NJ Appellate Law Blog

Busy Days at the Third Circuit, Part 2

Yesterday's post noted that the Third Circuit has published a number of opinions in recent days. Here are summaries of some more of those opinions, all of which emanate from...

Busy Days at the Third Circuit

Though the Supreme Court of New Jersey and the Appellate Division are only just beginning to ramp up in the new Term, the Third Circuit has been pumping out published...

Three More Supreme Court Grants of Review

The Supreme Court announced that is has granted certification in three more cases. Two of them are criminal appeals. The third is an insurance case in which, due to a...

Retroactive Hiatus

Due to a Supreme Court brief, a major Appellate Division brief, some personal matters, and issues as to the hosting of this blog, there were no postings here for the...

Traditional Contract Law "Penalty" Clause Analysis Does Not Apply to Matrimonial Settlement Agreements

Holtham v. Lucas, 460 N.J. Super. 308 (App. Div. 2019). As Judge Ostrer noted in the first sentence of his opinion in this case today, "[a]ccording to well-settled contract law,...

A Trio of Published Opinions From the Appellate Division Today

Last week, the Appellate Division issued four published opinions on a single day, as discussed here. Today, the court released three published decisions. Here are summaries of those opinions: New...

A Busy Few Weeks for the Appellate Division

In the last several weeks, this blog has largely focused on Supreme Court decisions and grants of review. That was not meant to slight the Appellate Division, whose judges have...

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...

"Confusing," "Contradictory," and "Obscure" Provision of Consumer Contract Claimed to Mandate Arbitration is Held Not to Do So

Kernahan v. Home Warranty Administrator of Florida, Inc., 236 N.J. 301 (2019). When the Supreme Court grants review based on a particular issue raised by the petitioner, but the petitioner...

Negotiated Property Settlement Agreement in Matrimonial Case Defeats Changed Circumstances Application

Bermeo v. Bermeo, 457 N.J. Super. 77 (App. Div. 2018). Today is the second consecutive day on which Judge Firko released a published opinion. The essence of it is that...

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A Privity of Contract Anniversary

On this date in 1984, the Supreme Court decided Arohnson v. Mandara, 98 N.J. 92 (1984). A unanimous opinion written by Justice Schreiber, the opinion was one of a series that cut back on privity of contract as a defense....

Another Supreme Court Per Curiam Affirmance, With an "Attagirl" for Judge Puglisi

Amato v. Township of Ocean School District, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). Yesterday's post included discussion of a per curiam affirmance by the Supreme Court. Today, the Court published another per curiam affirmance in this case. The Court affirmed "substantially for the reasons stated in Judge Puglisi's thorough and thoughtful opinion" for the Appellate Division. That decision was published at 480 N.J. Super. 239 (App. Div. 2024)....

Two Short Ones From the Supreme Court

Supreme Court opinions often extend toward the longer side. This week, however, the Court issued two opinions, both involving administrative agency actions, that were shorter than average. In neither case did more need to be said....

One From the Supreme Court and Two From the Appellate Division

The end of last week saw the issuance of one Supreme Court ruling and two published Appellate Division decisions. Two of those were in criminal appeals. The third involved the exclusion of an expert witness in a medical malpractice case....