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

A Primer About the Attorney-Client Privilege

Hedden v. Kean University, 434 N.J. Super. 1 (App. Div. 2013). This interlocutory appeal, which resulted in a 2-1 decision by the Appellate Division, involved issues of attorney-client privilege. In an...

Party Who Litigated for 21 Months Waived Right to Compel Arbitration

Cole v. Jersey City Medical Center, 215 N.J. 165 (2013). In Cole v. Jersey City Medical Center, 425 N.J. Super. 48 (App. Div. 2012), discussed here, the Appellate Division ruled that defendant,...

The Appellate Division Announces a New Right to Counsel in Certain Post-Conviction Relief Proceedings

State v. Quixal, 431 N.J. Super. 502 (App. Div. 2013). Today's post is a guest post by Jeffrey A. Shooman, one of my colleagues in the Appellate Practice Group at Lite DePalma...

Use Variance Applicant Need Not Show That Subject Property is the Only Available Site for the Use

Price v. Himeji, LLC, 214 N.J. 263 (2013). Himeji, LLC applied to the Union City Board of Adjustment for a use variance, density, height, and other variances, and a waiver necessary for the construction of a...

An Important Administrative Law Appeal to the Supreme Court

Sometimes we all fall behind. On March 21, 2013, the Appellate Division decided In re N.J.A.C. 7:1B-1.1 et seq., 431 N.J. Super. 100 (App. Div. March 21, 2013). A coalition of environmental groups...

Administratively Closing a Case is Not the Same as Dismissing the Case

Freeman v. Pittsburgh Glass Works, LLC, 709 F.3d 240 (3d Cir. 2013). This appeal involved plaintiff's assertion that an arbitration award should be vacated because the arbitrator was biased. The district court rejected that...

More About Waiver

In re Diet Drugs, 706 F.3d 217 (3d Cir. 2013). This is the latest of the many chapters in the Diet Drugs class action litigation, which was the subject of a global...

Party That Filed Multiple Motions in Court Waived Arbitration Clause

Bellevue Drug Co. v. Caremark SPCS, 700 F.3d 109 (3d Cir. 2012). This was an antitrust class action. Plaintiffs, who are retail pharmacy businesses, and defendant, who is a prescription benefits manager for...

Homeowners Association Cannot Ban Political Signs in Unit Windows

Mazdabrook Commons Homewoners Ass'n v. Khan, 210 N.J. 482 (2012). "The question in this appeal is whether a homeowners' association can prohibit residents from posting political signs in the windows of their...

Party Lost the Right to Employ an Arbitration Clause by Waiting Too Long to Invoke It

Cole v. Jersey City Medical Center, 425 N.J. Super. 48 (App. Div. 2012). Plaintiff, a nurse anesthetist at Jersey Medical Center, sued the Medical Center and her immediate employer, Liberty Anesthesia Associates...

1 2 3 4 5 6 789 10…Last

"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....