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

The Grass is Not Greener

Some people have complaints about the Justices of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, though our Court in fact remains at or near the top of all state Supreme Courts in the...

Retroactive Application of Sex Offender Monitoring Act Violates Ex Post Facto Clauses

Today's post is another guest post by Jeffrey A. Shooman, my colleague at Lite DePalma Greenberg, LLC. Riley v. New Jersey State Parole Bd., 219 N.J. 270 (2014). In a...

Violent Rap Lyrics Are Not Admissible to Show Criminal Intent or Motive Unless Directly Connected to the Crime Charged

This is another guest post by my colleague at Lite DePalma Greenberg, LLC, Jeffrey A. Shooman: State v. Skinner, 218 N.J. 496 (2014). I've blogged before about Federal Rule of...

The State Knowingly Files a "Quixotic" Appeal

State v. Witt, 435 N.J. Super. 608 (App. Div. 2014). Only the Supreme Court of New Jersey can overrule one of its own decisions. But a party who wishes to...

The Third Circuit Interprets New Jersey's Affidavit of Merit Statute

Nuveen Municipal Trust v. WithumSmith Brown P.C., 752 F.3d 600 (3d Cir. 2014). As discussed here, the Supreme Court of New Jersey has occasionally accepted requests from the the Third Circuit...

The Supreme Court Speaks About Evidence Rule 404(b)

State v. Carlucci, 217 N.J. 129 (2014). This is another guest post by Jeffrey A. Shooman, who was then my colleague in the Appellate Practice Group of Lite DePalma Greenberg,...

"If at First You Don't Succeed …."

Dewey v. Volkswagen, A.G., 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 2596 (3d Cir. Feb. 12, 2014). In Dewey v. Volkswagen, A.G., 681 F.3d 170 (3d Cir. 2012), the Third Circuit reversed approval...

A Streaming Innovation from the Ninth Circuit

As announced here, beginning next week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will stream live its en banc oral arguments. The Ninth Circuit conducts many more en banc arguments than...

The Fifth Circuit Addresses New Jersey's Economic Loss Doctrine

Lone Star Nat'l Bank, N.A. v. Heartland Payment Systems, Inc., 729 F.3d 421 (5th Cir. 2013). In September, the Fifth Circuit issued this short opinion that interprets and applies New...

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...

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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....