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

Jury Charges on Causation in Medical Malpractice Cases

Komlodi v. Picciano, 217 N.J. 387 (2014). Causation is often a key factor in medical malpractice cases. And jury charges in such cases are, as in all cases, important to...

The Third Circuit Interprets New Jersey's Affidavit of Merit Statute

Nuveen Municipal Trust v. WithumSmith Brown P.C., 752 F.3d 600 (3d Cir. 2014). As discussed here, the Supreme Court of New Jersey has occasionally accepted requests from the the Third Circuit...

Jury Duty for All

In an article available here, today's Star-Ledger reports that Chief Justice Rabner appeared for jury duty yesterday in Essex County Superior Court. AFter watching an orientation video for jurors that featured...

Supreme Court Will Decide on Retroactivity of W.J.A. v. D.A. Defamation Decision

In W.J.A. v. D.A., 210 N.J. 229 (2012), discussed here, the Supreme Court issued an important decision about presumed damages in defamation cases. Now, the Supreme Cout has granted review...

Justice Fernandez-Vina's Maiden Opinion

Hersh v. County of Morris, 217 N.J. 236 (2014). It is traditional for a new Justice's first opinion to be a unanimous, relatively uncontroversial one. Yesterday, Justice Fernandez-Vina issued his...

School District is Not Liable for Dog Attack on School Property on a Weekend

Robinson v. Vivirito, 217 N.J. 199 (2014). On her way to a diner on a Saturday, plaintiff Charlotte Robinson took a shortcut across a middle school property. As she crossed...

The New Jersey Wiretapping Act is Held Constitutional

Today's post is a guest post by Victor N. Metallo, MAE, MBA, JD, Adj. Professor of Business Law, Montclair State University In State v. Ates, 213 N.J. 389 (2014), the...

Supreme Court Will Review Redd v. Bowman

The Supreme Court announced this morning that it has granted certification to review the decision in Redd v. Bowman, 433 N.J. Super. 178 (App. Div. 2013). The Appellate Division's decision is discussed...

Supreme Court Will Review Lippman v. Ethicon

The Supreme Court announced this morning that it has granted certification to review Lippman v. Ethicon, Inc., 432 N.J. Super. 378 (App. Div. 2013). The decision of the Appellate Division is discussed here. The...

The Supreme Court Speaks About Evidence Rule 404(b)

State v. Carlucci, 217 N.J. 129 (2014). This is another guest post by Jeffrey A. Shooman, who was then my colleague in the Appellate Practice Group of Lite DePalma Greenberg,...

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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....