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

Spokeo Again Fails Defendants at the Third Circuit

Susinno v. Work Out World, Inc., 862 F.3d 346 (3d Cir. 2017). Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 136 S.Ct. 1540 (2016), discussed here, was a case in which class action defendants...

A Statute of Limitations Issue of First Impression in a Privacy Case

Smith v. Datla, 451 N.J. Super. 82 (App. Div. 2017). This opinion by Judge Geiger was his first published opinion since his elevation to the Appellate Division. It involved the...

An LAD Opinion From the Supreme Court in a Disability Discrimination Case

Grande v. Saint Clare's Health System, 230 N.J. 1 (2017). Today's unanimous, scholarly opinion by Justice Solomon, with an equally scholarly concurring opinion by Jsutice LaVecchia, arose from an appeal...

Life Estates in Real Property Are Subject to Principles of Equitable Subrogation

Ocwen Loan Services, LLC v. Quinn, 450 N.J. Super. 393 (App. Div. 2017). The doctrine of equitable subrogation provides that "a refinancing lender whose security turns out to be defective...

The General Assignment Order for 2017-18

Today, the 2017-18 General Assignment Order issued by Chief Justice Rabner was published. It is available here. Judge Messano continues as Presiding Judge for Administration, and Judge Sabatino remains the...

No Property Tax Exemption for Disabled Veteran Whose Injuries Did Not Occur "In a Theater of Operation"

Fisher v. City of Millville, 450 N.J. Super. 610 (App. Div. 2017). Article VIII, section 1, paragraph 3 of the New Jersey Constitution allows the Legislature to enact legislation that...

A Treatise on Personal Jurisdiction From Judge Lihotz

Dutch Run-Mays Draft, LLC v. Wolf Block, LLP, 450 N.J. Super. 590 (App. Div. 2017). Issues of personal jurisdiction crop up fairly frequently, despite New Jersey's settled principle of applying...

Despite Girsh v. Jepson, A District Court Need Not Always Determine the Best Potential Recovery in Order to Approve a Class Action Settlement

Halley v. Honeywell International, Inc., 861 F.3d 481 (3d Cir. 2017). This was an environmental contamination class action involving lands in Jersey City, New Jersey. After "five years of extensive...

"Learned Professional" Exception to Consumer Fraud Act Exempts Providers of Ambulance Services

Atlantic Ambulance Corp. v. Cullum, 451 N.J. Super. 247 (App. Div. 2017). In her first published opinion for the Appellate Division since her elevation, Judge Mayer today addressed consolidated putative...

Literal Reading of Police and Fire Public Interest Arbitration Reform Act on Applicability of Cap on Arbitration Awards Would Yield Absurd Results, so the Appellate Division Rejects That Outcome

In re State of New Jersey and Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 91, 450 N.J. Super. 286 (App. Div. 2017). In her opinion for the Appellate Division today, Judge Reisner...

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Retired Policeman's Pension Benefits Were Wrongly Paid to His Estranged Spouse Rather Than to His Estate, Where He Had Not Designated Anyone to Receive the Pension Benefit if He Died

Isaac v. Board of Trustees, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). Two kinds of benefits are payable to retired members of the.Police and Firemen's Retirement System ("PFRS"). One is a pension benefit, a part of the member's compensation for past services. Pension benefits go to the person whom the member designates, or to the member's estate if no designation is made. The other is a survivor's benefit, which goes to the member's widow for the duration of his or her widowhood. Former Newark policeman Keith Isaac made no designation as to his pension benefits, though he did list his estranged wife, Roxanne, as his spouse when he filed for retirement. Based on that, Isaac's pension benefits were distributed to Roxanne. Isaac's estate contested that, and today the Supreme Court held that the estate should have gotten the pension monies....

The Supreme Court Clarifies New Jersey's Automobile Exception to the Requirement of a Search Warrant

State v. Fenimore, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). Both the United States and New Jersey Constitutions protect the people against "unreasonable searches and seizures" and prohibit the issuance of search warrants without "probable cause." Both federal and New Jersey law, however, recognize an "automobile exception" to the warrant requirement. But New Jersey's automobile exception is narrower than the federal exception, as the Supreme Court stated in State v. Witt, 223 N.J. 409 (2015). Today, the Supreme Court ruled that the Appellate Division in this case had interpreted Witt too broadly in reversing a Law Division decision to exclude evidence from a warrantless search. The Supreme Court reversed and excluded the evidence....

"Liberal Standards" for Standing "Are Not Equivalent to No Standards At All," the Supreme Court Says

New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers, Inc. v. Ford Motor Co., ___ N.J. ___ (2025). As Justice Pierre-Louis observed in her opinion for a unanimous Court in this case today, New Jersey state courts have long "take[n] a more liberal approach to standing than federal law." But in this appeal, the statute sued upon, the Franchise Practices Act, N.J.S.A. 56:10-1 et seq. ("FPA"), stated that only a "franchisee" could sue its franchisor. Because plaintiff here ("NJCAR") was not a franchisee but an association of franchisees, NJCAR lacked standing to bring a FPA case....

Compassionate Release Act Does Not Require Physical Examination of Inmates Seeking Relief, But Denial of Relief in This Case Was Arbitrary and Capricious

M.R. v. New Jersey Department of Corrections, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). Plaintiff appealed the denial of his petition for release under the Compassionate Release Act, N.J.S.A. 30:4-123.51 ("CRA"). He argued that he had not been physically examined by a physician, and that the statute required a physical examination. The Appellate Division determined that the statute did not require a physical examination and upheld the denial of compassionate release. Today, in a unanimous opinion by Justice Hoffman, the Supreme Court agreed that no physical examination was required, but reversed the denial of compassionate relief as insupportable....