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

Judge Fernandez-Vina Clears the Judiciary Committee

Today was the day that the Senate Judiciary Committee held its hearing on the nomination to the Supreme Court of Camden County Superior Court Judge Fausto Fernandez-Vina. The hearing featured...

A Wise Decision Under the Consumer Fraud Act

D'Agostino v. Maldonado, 216 N.J. 168 (2013). The requirement of the Consumer Fraud Act, N.J.S.A. 56:8-19 ("CFA"), that a consumer sustain an "ascertainable loss" as a prerequisite to recovery has...

Supreme Court Will Review Same-Sex Marriage Case

On Friday, the Supreme Court announced that it would grant the State's application for direct certification to review the September 27 ruling of the Law Division that granted summary judgment...

Senate Judiciary Committee Will Hold Hearing on Fernandez-Vina Supreme Court Nomination on October 17

Senate Democrats announced last week that the Senate Judiciary Committee would hold a hearing on the nomination of Judge Fausto Fernandez-Vina to the Supreme Court. That hearing has been scheduled...

Judging and Comedic Performances Do Not Mix

IMO Advisory Letter No. 3-11 and Opinion No. 12-08 of the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Extrajudicial Activities, 215 N.J. 495 (2013). Since 2008, Vincent Sicari has been a part-time...

A Statute Trumps the Common Law

Farmers Mut. Fire Ins. Co. of Salem v. New Jersey Property-Liability Ins. Guar. Ass'n, 215 N.J. 552 (2013). Today's unanimous opinion by Justice Albin addresses the proper allocation of environmental cleanup...

Supreme Court Will Review Tumpson v. Farina

The Supreme Court has granted certification to review the decision of the Appellate Division in Tumpson v. Farina, 431 N.J. Super. 164 (App. Div. 2013). The decision below is discussed here. The...

Supreme Court Will Review Maeker v. Ross (Palimony/Statute of Frauds), and Townsend v. Pierre (Evidence/Proximate Cause)

The Supreme Court announced late yesterday that it had granted certification to review Maeker v. Ross, 430 N.J. Super. 79 (App. Div. 2013). The decision of the Appellate Division is...

Reminder: September 16 Morris County Bar Association Appellate Practice Seminar

This seminar, previously mentioned here, has the official title of "Building the Trial Record and Arguing it on Appeal." [Disclosure: As you can see in the link, I am one of...

An Advertisement: "Extraordinary CLE Program With Justice Patterson; Judges Axelrad (PJAD), Sabatino (JAD), and Stern (PJAD- retired); Bruce D. Greenberg, Esq., and Mattheu Nunn, Esq."

The title of this post is the title of an e-mail that went to members of the Morris County Bar Association to announce a seminar on appellate practice that will...

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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....