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

Humpty Dumpty and Joyce Kilmer, Together, Thanks to Judge Fisher

Freedman v. Sufrin, 443 N.J. Super. 128 (App. Div. 2015). This opinion by Judge Fisher today involved the proper interpretation of a restrictive covenant that purported to restrict the removal...

A Labor Union's Discipline of One of Its Members

Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 22 v. Kavanagh, 443 N.J. Super. 39 (App. Div. 2015). This opinion by Judge Currier today addressed an appeal by defendant, a former member of...

How to Terminate a Contract for Sale of Residential Real Estate

Conley v. Guerrero, 443 N.J. Super. 62 (App. Div. 2015). As a result of a settlement in New Jersey State Bar Ass'n v. New Jersey Ass'n of Realtor Bds., 93...

Not a Lease, Not a License, but a Profit a Prendre

Van Horn v. Harmony Sand & Gravel, 442 N.J. Super. 333 (App. Div. 2015). When is a document titled "Lease Agreement" not a lease? When it is in fact, regardless...

Consequential Damages Caused by Construction Subcontractor's Defective Work Were "Property Damage" and an "Occurrence" Under CGL Insurance Policy

Cypress Point Condominium Ass'n, Inc. v. Adria Towers, LLC, 441 N.J. Super. 369 (App. Div. 2015). A condominium association sued multiple parties, including insurers under commercial general liability ("CGL") insurance...

Land is Not "Insured Property" Under the Standard Flood Insurance Policy

Torre v. Liberty Mutual Fire Ins. Co., 781 F.3d 651 (3d Cir. 2015). This per curiam opinion deals with insurance coverage for the removal from plaintiffs' land of Hurricane Sandy-generated...

Forum Selection Clauses and Non-Parties to Such Clauses

Carlyle Investment Management LLC v. Moonmouth Company SA, 779 F.3d 214 (3d Cir. 2015). Parties can, and often do, include forum selection clauses in their contracts. Such clauses are frequently...

Trial Period Plan Agreement With Mortgage Lender is a Conditional Agreement to Modify a Mortgage

Arias v. Elite Mortgage Group, Inc., 439 N.J. Super. 273 (App. Div. 2015). This opinion by Judge Reisner affirmed a grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant bank...

An Anniversary in New Jersey Contract Interpretation

On this date in 1956, the Supreme Court decided Newark Publishers' Ass'n v. Newark Typographical Union, 26 N.J. 419 (1956). That unanimous opinion by Justice Heher involved whether the Newark...

The Third Circuit Rejects Arbitration by Estoppel

Flintkote Company v. Aviva PLC, 769 F.3d 215 (3d Cir. 2014). Efforts to force arbitration on parties who did not agree to it continue. In this case, however, the Third...

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8910 11…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....