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

"Shall" We? Is it "Necessary"?

In re State Bd. of Education's Denial of Petition to Adopt Regulations Implementing the New Jersey High School Voter Registration Law, 2011 WL 1529734 (App. Div. 2011). Public interest organizations submitted a...

Don't Wait 364 Days to Move for Relief Under Rule 4:50

Orner v. Liu, 419 N.J. Super. 431 (App. Div. 2011). This case involved a motion under several sections of Rule 4:50-1 for relief from a judgment. Defendants, the movants, waited until one...

"Interests of Justice" Provision Does Not Aid Tax Appeal Plaintiffs Who Did Not Pay Subject Taxes Timely

Dover-Chester Associates v. Randolph Tp., 419 N.J. Super. 184 (App. Div. 2011). The procedural history of these consolidated appeals was somewhat convoluted, but the legal issue was straightforward, as Judge Espinosa phrased...

Statute of Frauds Amendment That Covers Palimony Agreements is Not Retroactive

Botis v. Estate of Kudrick, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2011). January 18, 2010 was the effective date of an amendment to the Statute of Frauds that includes palimony agreements among...

Public Employer May Deny Use of Compensatory Time on Requested Date Even Without Showing Undue Disruption

Nutley Policemen's Benevolent Ass'n v. Township of Nutley, 419 N.J. Super. 160 (App. Div. 2011). The federal Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") , 29 U.S.C. §§201-219, requires a public employer who gives an...

"Reasonably Debatable": Arbitrator's Award of Pay for Ten-Minute Police Muster Period Upheld

Policemen's Benevolent Ass'n v. City of Trenton, 205 N.J. 422 (2011). The City of Trenton ordered certain employees to report for "muster" ten minutes before their shifts were to start, so that...

Two New Pro-Consumer Decisions

RAB Performance Recoveries, LLC v. George, 419 N.J. Super. 81 (App. Div. 2011), and Cowger v. Cherry Hill Mitsubishi, Inc., 2011 WL 848133 (App. Div. March 14, 2011). The Appellate Division recently...

The Supreme Court Reaffirms the Business Judgment Rule

Seidman v. Clifton Savings Bank, S.L.A., 205 N.J. 150 (2011). Under the business judgment rule, there is a rebuttable presumption that good faith decisions of a corporate board of directors are valid and...

A Third Circuit Debate About Waiver (or Forfeiture) of Arguments Not Raised Below

Tri-M Group, LLC v. Sharp, 638 F.3d 406 (3d Cir. 2011). In this case, the Third Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that Delaware's Prevailing Wage Regulations unlawfully discriminated against out-of-state contractors,...

Individual Condominium Unit Owners Cannot Protest Zoning Ordinance Under Municipal Land Use Law

Jennings v. Borough of Highlands, 418 N.J. Super. 405 (App. Div. 2011). "The right to protest zoning amendments has existed in this State for more than eighty years." A successful protest under...

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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....

Prosecutor's Prejudicial Comments During Summation Required Vacation of Conviction on Weapons and Criminal Restraint Charges

State v. Kelly, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). Judge Gummer wrote the panel's opinion in this case. The panel reversed defendant's conviction on weapons and criminal restraint charges, based on a set of facts remarkably similar to those in State v. Daniels, 182 N.J. 80 (2004)....