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

The Supreme Court Decides Docket No. A-1-2018, Based on Plain Language of the Check Cashers Regulatory Act of 1993

Garden State Check Cashing Service, Inc. v. New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance, 237 N.J. 482 (2019). As discussed here, this was the very first appeal of the current...

Conflict Resolved: The Supreme Court Applies the Unemployment Compensation Law in Favor of Benefit Claimants

McClain v. Board of Review, 237 N.J. 445 (2019). This appeal actually involved two consolidated cases, each of which was the subject of a published opinion in the Appellate Division....

A Qualified Immunity Case and a Tort Claims Act/Legal Malpractice Case for the Supreme Court

Add two more cases to the Supreme Court's docket. One of them is before the Court as of right, by virtue of a dissent in the Appellate Division. In the...

Appellate Courts Can Decline to Review Arguments Made Below as to Other Issues, But Not as to the Issue Actually on Appeal

Chirino v. Proud 2 Haul, Inc., 458 N.J. Super. 308 (App. Div. 2017), aff'd o.b., 237 N.J. 440 (2019). There is a long-settled general rule that an appellate court will...

No Surprise: The U.S. Supreme Court Says "Ambiguous" Arbitration Agreements Do Not Permit Class Arbitration

Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela, 139 S. Ct. 407 (2019). In Stolt-Nielsen, S.A. v. AnimalFeedsInt'l Corp., 559 U.S. 662 (2010), the Supreme Court of the United States, by a 5-3...

Two Cases About Access to Swimming

Susko v. Borough of Belmar, 458 N.J. Super. 583 (App. Div. 2019); Curto v. A Country Place Condominium Association, 921 F.3d 405 (3d Cir. 2019). Yesterday, while I was in...

The Next Third Circuit Bench-Bar Judicial Conference is Planned for Philadelphia in Spring 2020

It has been announced that the Third Circuit is planning its next Bench-Bar Judicial Conference for a still-to-be-decided date in the spring of 2020. The Conference will take place in...

Involuntary Commitments Orders Don't Become Moot Merely Because Confinement Has Ended

In re Civil Commitment of C.M., 458 N.J. Super. 563 (App. Div. 2019). The doctrine of mootness enables courts to avoid disputes that are not "live." Today's opinion by Judge...

Insubstantial Constitutional Issues Don't Afford an Appeal to the Supreme Court as of Right

On this date in 1965, the Supreme Court decided Tidewater Oil Co. v. Mayor & Council of Borough of Carteret, 44 N.J. 338 (1965), a municipal land use case. That...

Where Sample Primary Election Ballots Are Required to be Printed in English and Spanish, Official Primary Ballots Must Also Be

Correa v. Grossi, 458 N.J. Super. 571 (App. Div. 2019). Multiple pieces of related legislation can be inconsistent, and courts are called on to harmonize them using classic principles of...

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"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)....

An Arbitration Case and a Cannabis Land Use Appeal for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in two new appeals. One of those is from a published Appellate Division decision, while the other appeal is from an unpublished opinion of a two-judge Appellate Division panel....