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

"Brown" Wins a Tax Penalty Appeal in the Supreme Court

United Parcel Service Gen. Servs. Co. v. Director, Div. of Taxation, 220 N.J. 90 (2014). This per curiam decision of the Supreme Court today affirmed an Appellate Division decision, written by Judge...

Co-Op Owner Has Free Speech Right to Leaflet as Part of Campaign for Co-Op Board Seat

Dublirer v. 2000 Linwood Avenue Owners, Inc., 220 N.J. 71 (2014). In State v. Schmid, 84 N.J. 585 (1980), and New Jersey Coalition Against War in the Middle East v....

Justice Robert L. Clifford (1924-2014)

Justice Robert L. Clifford died on Saturday, November 29. He was 89 years old. Justice Clifford served on the Supreme Court for twenty one years, from 1973 to 1994. During...

Veterans Day, and Free Speech

Today is Veterans Day, which currently is made a federal holiday by 5 U.S.C. §6103(a) and a state holiday by N.J.S.A. 36:1-1. The holiday began as Armistice Day, since it was...

An Anniversary in New Jersey Contract Interpretation

On this date in 1956, the Supreme Court decided Newark Publishers' Ass'n v. Newark Typographical Union, 26 N.J. 419 (1956). That unanimous opinion by Justice Heher involved whether the Newark...

The Courier Font

Rule 2:6-10, which addresses the format of appellate briefs, states (among other things) that Supreme Court of New Jersey and Appellate Division briefs "shall contain no more than 26 double-spaced lines...

Supreme Court and Appellate Division Fees Will Increase on November 17

In a Notice to the Bar that was published today, the Supreme Court announced that a number of fees in various courts will increase as of November 17, 2014. Of...

Supreme Court Will Review State v. Buckner (Recall Judges Case)

Yesterday, as expected, the Supreme Court announced that an appeal as of right has been filed, and had been accepted by the Supreme Court, in State v. Buckner, 437 N..J....

The Grass is Not Greener

Some people have complaints about the Justices of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, though our Court in fact remains at or near the top of all state Supreme Courts in the...

Retroactive Application of Sex Offender Monitoring Act Violates Ex Post Facto Clauses

Today's post is another guest post by Jeffrey A. Shooman, my colleague at Lite DePalma Greenberg, LLC. Riley v. New Jersey State Parole Bd., 219 N.J. 270 (2014). In 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....