NJ Appellate Law Blog

An Attorney Who Can't Handle an Assigned Matter Effectively Must Either Retain Substitute Counsel or So Advise the Court

In re Adoption of a Child by C.J., 463 N.J. Super. 254 (App. Div. 2020). This opinion, issued today,must have been a very distasteful opinion for Judge Koblitz to write....

An Employment Law Anniversary: The "Lower Sights" Doctrine

Today is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. It's also Administrative Professionals Day, an opportunity for attorneys to recognize how essential our non-attorney staff is to our legal practice. Today...

Back in Action

The appellate courts have not been idle since the most recent post on this blog. Opinions have been issued, the Supreme Court has taken up more cases for review, and...

"In the Good Old Summertime"- Appellate Division Summer Parts

Chief Justice Rabner has announced the lineup of Appellate Division Parts for the coming summer. The schedule consists of six 14-day "Sessions," beginning on June 15 and ending on September...

In Vehicular Homicide Case, Decedent's Conduct, Which Cannot be Raised as a Defense, Must be Considered as a Mitigating Factor in Sentencing

State v. Pascucci, 463 N.J. Super. 203 (App. Div. 2020). The strict liability vehicular homicide statute, N.J.S.A. 2C:11-5.3d, provides that "[i]t shall not be a defense to a prosecution under...

Where Jail Inmates Had Been Told That Their Telephone Calls Would be Monitored and Recorded, They Had No Reasonable Expectation of Privacy in Those Calls

State v. Jackson, 241 N.J. 547 (2020). In a per curiam opinion, the Supreme Court today affirmed the ruling of the Appellate Division in this case (actually, two consolidated cases),...

An Expungement Case and a "Conditional Res Ipsa Loquitur" Case for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in two more cases. One arises out of a finding of child abuse and neglect. The other involves a request for...

Forfeiture of Entire Public Pension Due to Guilty Plea of Accepting $300 Bribe is Not an Unconstitutional "Excessive Fine"

State v. Anderson, 463 N.J. Super. 168 (App. Div. 2020). Defendant, formerly employed by the Jersey City Tax Assessor's office, pled guilty to a federal criminal charge of interference with...

Next Week's Appellate Division Arguments Will be Conducted Telephonically

As stated here, oral arguments in the Appellate Division through April 2 will be conducted telephonically. Parts A, C, D, and G are the Parts that have oral arguments scheduled...

Judges Gummer and Smith Will be Temporarily Assigned to the Appellate Division as of September 1

Chief Justice Rabner announced the temporary assignment of two judges to the Appellate Division. The two judges, Katie Gummer and Morris Smith, will begin their temporary assignments on September 1,...

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 606162 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181…Last

Two Criminal Appeals and Two Eminent Domain Cases for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in four new cases. Two of them are criminal matters. The other two involve eminent domain issues. One of the criminal appeals is before the Court on leave to appeal, the second grant of leave to appeal in the current Term. The Court granted certification in the other three matters....

Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week: Can the Borough of Caldwell Recoup Payment for Professional Services That it Previously Made?

Tomorrow, September 11, a panel of judges on the Appellate Division's Part B will hear oral argument in Borough of Caldwell v. Cozzarelli-Cirminiello Architects, LLC. The case is before the Appellate Division following the grant of defendant's motion for leave to appeal the denial of its motion to dismiss the Complaint....

The First Published Appellate Division Opinion of the 2025-26 Term

Alcantara v. Moro, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). Judge Smith authored this opinion for the Appellate Division, that court's first published opinion of the new Term. The appeal was from a final decision of the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education that the School Funding Reform Act, N.J.S.A. 8A:7F-43 et seq. ("SFRA"), was constitutional as applied to the Township of Lakewood....

The First Supreme Court Grant of Review in the 2025-26 Term

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted leave to appeal in State v. Caneiro, a quadruple homicide case. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk's office, is "Under the circumstances presented, where defendant's house was on fire, was the warrantless seizure of evidence from the garage justified under the exigent circumstances exception to the warrant requirement?"...