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

Can an Insurer, Suspicious of Insurance Fraud, Require Health Providers Who Seek Reimbursement from the Insurer, to Supply Information About Their Ownership Structure and Billing Practices?

Selective Ins. Co. v. Hudson East Pain Management, 210 N.J. 597 (2012). Defendants provided medical treatment to patients who had personal injury protection ("PIP") insurance through plaintiff ("Selective"). The patients assigned their right to...

Immunity Statute Protects Rescue Squad Personnel, but Not the Rescue Squad as an Entity

Murray v. Plainfield Rescue Squad, 210 N.J. 581 (2012). Plaintiffs' son was shot in the chest by his brother. The Plainfield Rescue Squad was called. But there was allegedly a prolonged delay in transporting...

Supreme Court Will Review State v. Heine

The Supreme Court announced this morning that it has granted certification in State v. Heine, 424 N.J. Super. 48 (App. Div. 2012). The Appellate Division's decision is discussed here. The...

No Surprise: Supreme Court Grants Review of In re Plan for the Abolition of the Council on Affordable Housing

In In re Plan for the Abolition of the Council on Affordable Housing, 424 N.J. Super. 410 (App. Div. 2012), the Appellate Division held that Governor Christie could not unilaterally...

Can Lawyers Who Sue Clients for Fees Recover Attorneys' Fees for Representing Themselves, and What Interest Rate Can They Collect?

The Supreme Court announced today that it will review the not for publication decision in Kern Augustine Conroy & Schoppmann, P.C. v. DiDonato. As phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk's Office,...

An Abbott v. Burke Anniversary

In Abbott v. Burke, the long-running saga regarding school funding that began with what is now known as Abbott I, 100 N.J. 269 (1985), and continues today, the Supreme Court...

Expungement of Less Serious Criminal Convictions

In re Kollman, Jr., Petition for Expungement, 210 N.J. 557 (2012). "To afford a second chance to one-time offenders convicted of less serious offenses, who have led law-abiding lives since conviction, the...

Records of Public Law School Clinics Are Not Subject to Open Public Records Act

Sussex Commons Assocs., LLC v. Rutgers, the State University, 210 N.J. 531 (2012). Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and its two law schools are unquestionably subject to the Open Public Records...

It's Tough to Get Around the Workers' Compensation Act's Ban on Employee Lawsuits Against Employers

Van Dunk v. Reckson Associates Realty Corp., 210 N.J. 449 (2012). New Jersey's Workers' Compensation Act, N.J.S.A. 34:15-1 to -128.5 ("the Act"), creates what is normally the sole recourse for an employee...

Laches Cannot Bar a Claim That is Filed Within the Applicable Statute of Limitations

Fox v. Millman, 210 N.J. 401 (2012). This case is one of many cut from a similar pattern: an employee subject to a duty of loyalty to his employer left that job for a new...

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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....