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

Defendants Waived Their Contractual Right to Arbitration, and the Appellate Division Had Jurisdiction to So Determine

Hopkins v. LVNV Funding, LLC, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). This appeal arose out of a Special Civil Part action by LVNV Funding, LLC ("LVNV") on January 26, 2022 to collect an alleged $746.71 debt originally owed to Credit Bank One, N.A. LVNV alleged that it was the successor in interest and owner of the alleged debt, at the tail end of a long line of successors. Hopkins filed an Answer and a class action counterclaim, alleging that LVNV and the others in its chain of successors were not licensed to conduct business as consumer lenders or sales finance companies pursuant to the New Jersey Consumer Finance Licensing Act ("CFLA"), N.J.S.A. 17:11C-1 to -49....

A Filed Rate Doctrine Anniversary

On this date in 2004, the Supreme Court decided Smith v. SBC Communications, Inc., 178 N.J. 265 (2004). The case was a putative Consumer Fraud Act ("CFA") and breach of contract class action against Southern New England Telephone Company ("SNET") and BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc. Plaintiff alleged that defendants falsely advertised that prepaid calling cards purchased at BJ's would yield substantially more calling time than plaintiff actually received....

January, So Far

With the coming of the new year, this blog went onto a new platform. That fact, along with a Supreme Court oral argument and a Committee on Character hearing last week, has left this blog behind as 2025 begins. Our appellate courts, however, have been active. Here are summaries of their January 2025 published opinions to date:...

Justice Alan B. Handler (1931-2024)

Justice Alan B. Handler died on May 23. He was 92 years old. Justice Handler served on the Supreme Court of New Jersey for 22 years, from 1977 through 1999...

"Illusory Discounts" Violate the Consumer Fraud Act, But Private Plaintiffs Cannot Prevail

Robey v. SPARC Group, LLC, 256 N.J. 541 (2024). Today saw a relatively rare 4-3 decision from the Supreme Court. The majority consisted of Justice Solomon, the author of the...

The Anniversary of Gonzalez v. Wilshire Credit Corp.

On this date in 2011, the Supreme Court decided Gonzalez v. Wilshire Credit Corp., 207 N.J. 557 (2011). The Court's 6-0 decision, authored by Justice Albin, involved the question of...

Fraud in the Inducement Claim Won't Defeat Forum Selection Clause Unless Fraud Involved That Clause Specifically

Largoza v. FKM Real Estate Holdings, Inc., 252 N.J. Super. 331 (App. Div. 2022). A line of federal cases that includes Prima Paint Corp. v. Flood & Conklin Mfg. Co., 388...

Avis Budget Group Cannot Force Customers to Arbitrate

Bacon v. Avis Budget Group, Inc., 959 F.3d 590 (3d Cir. 2020). Plaintiffs rented vehicles from defendant Payless Car Rental, Inc., a subsidiary of defendant Avis Budget Group, Inc. (together,...

Breaking the Silence

February 26 was the most recent post on this blog. From then until today, I have had an Appellate Division oral argument, an oral argument on a dispositive motion in...

22 Years Since Lemelledo v. Beneficial Management

On July 3, 1997, the Supreme Court decided Lemelledo v. Beneficial Management Corp. of America, 150 N.J. 255 (1997). Justice Handler's opinion in that case, for a 6-0 Court, is...

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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....

Appellate Division Published Opinions During and After Its Recess

The final day of the Appellate Division's two-week recess was April 25. On that date, the Appellate Division issued a published opinion. Two more published opinions followed during the current week. Here are summaries of those opinions....

"Ethics in Appellate Practice" Seminar at the NJSBA Annual Meeting on May 15

I will be moderating a panel titled "Ethics in Appellate Practice" that will help kick off Day 2 of the New Jersey State Bar Association Annual Meeting on May 15. The presentation will be from 8:45-10 AM. It will feature Judge Gummer of the Appellate Division and distinguished appellate practitioners with experience in and perspectives on ethics in the appellate context from both the plaintiffs' and the defendants' sides....