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

When the Supreme Court Made Orders Compelling Arbitration Immediately Appealable

On this date in 2008, the Supreme Court of New Jersey decided Wein v. Morris, 194 N.J. 364 (2008). That case involved an order dismissing a lawsuit and directing that...

The Effect on the Appellate Division of a Split in Federal Decisions on a Constitutional Issue

State v. Witczak, 2011 WL 1364012 (App. Div. April 12, 2011). This blog usually is allergic to criminal decisions. But this criminal case involved a virtually even split in the federal Circuit Courts...

A Lesson on Forum Non Conveniens

Yousef v. General Dynamics Corp., 205 N.J. 543 (2011). In deciding where a case can be brought, New Jersey courts normally honor the plaintiff's choice of forum, especially where the plaintiff is a...

Supreme Court Will Review Case Raising Federal Preemption and Statute of Limitations Issues

The Supreme Court has granted certification to review the decision in Cornett v. Johnson & Johnson, 414 N.J. Super. 365 (App. Div. 2010). [Disclosure: I am co-counsel for plaintiffs in Cornett]. That...

No April Fool

On April Fool's Day, 1968, the Supreme Court of New Jersey decided McLaughlin v. Bassing, 51 N.J. 410 (1968). In a one-sentence ruling, the Court reversed the Appellate Division's dismissal...

Amendment to Rule 1:13-9 (Amici Curiae on Appeal)

The Supreme Court has amended Rule 1:13-9, which deals with amici curiae. The amendment provides that where the Supreme Court or the Appellate Division has directed the parties to submit...

"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...

36 Years Since Mount Laurel I

On this date in 1975, the Supreme Court of New Jersey decided Southern Burlington Cty. NAACP v. Mount Laurel Tp., 67 N.J. 151 (1975). There, the Court held that each...

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...

Any Order That Compels or Denies Arbitration is Now Final and Immediately Appealable, Even if it Does Not Address All Issues and All Parties

GMAC v. Pittella, 205 N.J. 572 (2011). In Wein v. Morris, 194 N.J. 364 (2008), the Supreme Court used its rulemaking power to amend Rule 2:2-3(a) to add orders compelling arbitration to...

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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....