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

A Brokerage Commission Case, Where the Broker's Third-Party Beneficiary, Unjust Enrichment, and Quantum Meruit Claims Failed

Pollack v. Quick Quality Restaurants, Inc., 452 N.J. Super. 174 (App. Div. 2017). The first paragraph of Judge Gibbons Whipple's opinion for the Appellate Division well encapsulated what this appeal...

Senate Judiciary Committee Approves the Nomination of Penn Law Professor Stephanos Bibas to the Third Circuit

Stephanos Bibas is a Professor of Law and Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He is a graduate of Yale Law School and has other degrees from Columbia...

More Than an Eyedropper's Worth of Analysis of Standing

Cottrell v. Alcon Laboratories, 874 F.3d 154 (3d Cir. 2017). Eye drops can be helpful to many people, but putting drops in one's eyes is unpleasant at many levels. One...

A Case That Everyone Knows: Brill v. Guardian Life Ins. Co., Decided 22 Years Ago Today

If there is one case that every New Jersey litigator, and even most non-litigators, know, it is Brill v. Guardian Life Ins. Co., 142 N.J. 520 (1995). That opinion, written...

A Photographic Array Appeal for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced today that it has granted review in State v. Anthony. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk's office, is "Is defendant entitled to...

Health Club Membership Agreements Are Not Retail Installment Sales Contracts

Mellet v. Aquasid, LLC, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2017). The decision in this consumer protection case was issued in June as an unpublished opinion. Defendant then asked the...

Mandatory Electronic Filing for All Appellate Division Appeals Begins January 1, 2018

In an order dated September 26 that was only just published, the Supreme Court has mandated that electronic filing of all appeals, of all types, in the Appellate Division will...

Three New Grants of Review by the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced yesterday that it has granted review in two new cases. The first is Willner v. Vertical Reality, Inc. The question presented there, as phrased by the...

One Win for Plaintiffs and One for Defendants in Companion Class Certification Cases Today

Dugan v. TGI Friday's, Inc., 231 N.J. 24 (2017). In these two closely-watched consumer class action decisions, each of which involved claims regarding defendants' alleged failure to disclose the price...

A Square Conflict in Recent Appellate Division Decisions Regarding the Unemployment Statute

Blake v. Board of Review, 452 N.J. Super. 7 (App. Div. 2017). In McClain v. Board of Review, 451 N.J. Super. 461 (App. Div. 2017), discussed here, a panel of...

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A Municipal Court Administrator is Employed by the Township, Not the Administrative Office of the Courts

Palmisano v. State of New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). The opening paragraph of Judge Marczyk's opinion for the Appellate Division well encapsulates what the appeal was about and what the result was. "Plaintiff Lindsay Palmisano appeals from the trial court's April 1, 2024 order dismissing her complaint with prejudice against defendant State of New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts and Municipal Division (AOC) pursuant to Rule 4:6-2(e). The primary issue on appeal is whether plaintiff, a municipal court administrator, is an employee of the AOC, thereby allowing her to assert a claim against the AOC under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD), N.J.S.A. 10:5-1 to -49. Based on our review of the record and the applicable legal principles, we conclude plaintiff was employed by Vernon Township (Township), not the AOC, and, therefore, we affirm."...

Supreme Court to Take Up Two Published Appellate Division Opinions

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in two new appeals. One is before the Court on leave to appeal. The Court granted certification in the other matter....

South Seaside Park Can Detach Itself From Berkeley Township

Whiteman v. Township Council of Berkeley Township, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). South Seaside Park is a small (490 year-round residents) barrier island community that has been annexed to the Township of Berkeley ("the Township"). South Seaside Park sought to deannex itself from the Township and to be annexed instead to the Borough of Seaside Park. South Seaside Park followed a statutory petitioning procedure in doing so. The Township refused consent. South Seaside Park went to court and won a ruling from the Law Division that rejected the Township's refusal. The Appellate Division affirmed. Yesterday, in a unanimous opinion by Justice Patterson, the Supreme Court affirmed as well....

Megan's Law "Not Likely to Pose a Threat to the Safety of Others" Extends to Non-Sexual as Well as Sexual Re-Offenses

In re Registrant S.O., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). This appeal presented a pure legal issue relating to the "public safety prongs" contained in the termination provisions of Megan's Law, N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2(f), and the Community Supervision for Life statute ("CSL"), N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6.4(c). Judge Vanek crystallized that "novel" issue as "whether, on a registrant's application to terminate Megan's Law and CSL obligations, the phrase ‘not likely to pose a threat to the safety of others' should be broadly interpreted with the trial court considering threats to safety from subsequent non-sexual and sexual offenses or whether the inquiry should be limited to the threat of sexual re-offense only." The panel held that the broader view was the correct one....