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

The Anniversary of Lopez v. Swyer

On this date in 1973, the Supreme Court decided Lopez v. Swyer, 62 N.J. 267 (1973). That opinion, written by Justice Mountain for a unanimous Court, applied and extended the...

Electronic Filing in the Appellate Division Advances, and the Supreme Court Joins in Too

Electronic filing in the Appellate Division was heralded several years ago, and the rollout began in June 2013. But the process has been slow to expand. This week, however, a...

"[T]echnical Defects Should Not Serve to Defeat an Otherwise Valid Filing"

Vanderslice v. Stewart, 220 N.J. 385 (2015). This case arose out of a mandatory, non-binding arbitration of an auto accident. Rule 4:21A-6(b)(1) requires that a party who seeks to appeal...

Spill Act Has No Statute of Limitations

Morristown Associates v. Grant Oil Co., 220 N.J. 360 (2015). The New Jersey Spill Compensation and Control Act, konwn as the "Spill Act," allows parties who clean up contamination to seek...

Another Supreme Court Decision on a Certified Question, This Time on the Wage and Hour Law and Wage Payment Law

Hargrove v. Sleepy's, LLC, 220 N.J. 289 (2015). Today, speaking through Judge Cuff, the Supreme Court issued an opinion on a certified question posed to the Court by the Third...

The Supreme Court Hears Argument on Fair Share Housing Center's Motion for Contempt Against COAH

As previewed here, today was the day on which the Supreme Court heard oral argument on the application of the Fair Share Housing Center to hold the Council on Affordable...

Is the Supreme Court Fed Up With COAH?

When last we left the saga of the Council on Affordable Housing ("COAH") and its "third round rules" for the calculation of municipal obligations for low and moderate-income housing, the...

A "Bright-Line Directive": Post-Verdict, Ex Parte Communications Between a Judge and Jury Are Always Forbidden

Davis v. Husain, 220 N.J. 270 (2014). "Post-verdict ex parte communication between the trial court and jurors cannot be countenanced." That is the holding of today's opinion, for a unanimous Supreme...

The First Opinion by Justice Solomon

State v. Jaffe, 220 N.J. 114 (2014). As discussed here, the first opinion written by a new Justice is generally a unanimous decision in a relatively unexceptional case. Today, Justice Solomon, a...

The Rent Control Trilogy

On this date thirty-nine years ago, the Supreme Court decided three seminal rent conrol cases, which have come to be known as the "rent control trilogy." Troy Hills Village v....

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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....