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

This Week in the Appellate Division

The Appellate Division issued four published opinions this week (two on Monday and two yesterday). Here are summaries of those rulings: Wilhelm v. Ryder Logistics & Transportation Solutions, ___ N.J....

Despite Commissioner of Education's Failure to Address Segregative Effects of Expansion of Seven Newark Charter Schools, Those Expansions Stand

In re Renewal Application of TEAM Academy Charter School, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). Justice Patterson's decision for a unanimous Supreme Court today addressed whether, when considering the expansion applications of...

Complaint-Summonses From a Municipal Police Department Can be Obtained Under the Open Public Records Acts

Simmons v. Mercado, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). Justice Pierre-Louis issued this unanimous opinion for the Supreme Court today. The issue was "whether a records request for complaint-summonses from a municipal...

A Jury Could Find That a Supervisor's Use of Two "Highly Offensive" Slurs Created a Hostile Work Environment

Rios v. Meda Pharmaceutical, Inc., ___ N.J. ___ (2021). In Taylor v. Metzger, 152 N.J. 490 (1998), the Supreme Court held that a single racial epithet "was sufficiently severe to...

Reversing the Appellate Division, the Supreme Court Adopts the "Ongoing Storm Rule"

Pareja v. Princeton International Properties, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). This 5-2 decision addressed the "ongoing storm rule," which Justice Fernandez-Vina's majority opinion defined as a doctrine "under which a landowner...

Acoli v. Parole Board Returns to the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has added Acoli v. New Jersey State Parole Board to its docket. The matter is before the Court due to a dissent in the...

Adverse Employment Action Not Required for Law Against Discrimination Claim

Richter v. Oakland Bd. of Educ., ___ N.J. ___ (2021). Justice LaVecchia wrote the opinion in this important Law Against Discrimination ("LAD") case for a unanimous Court. There were two...

New Supreme Court Appeals Raise Evidence, Workers' Compensation Act, Nominal Damages, and Affidavit of Merit Issues

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in four new matters. As is often the case, they are a varied group. In Lapsley v. Sparta Tp., the question...

The Supreme Court Largely Upholds the Attorney General's Directives Regarding Release of Police Officer Disciplinary Information

In re Attorney General Law Enforcement Directive Nos. 2020-5 and 2020-6, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). As discussed in more detail here, the Appellate Division upheld the power of the Attorney...

Another Permutation of "Legal Duty and Tort Liability in a Drunk Driving Context"

Diaz v. Reynoso, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). Near the beginning of his opinion for the Appellate Division today, Judge Sabatino succinctly stated the issue in this case:...

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Four New Criminal Appeals, and a Lone Civil Matter, for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in five new appeals. Four of them are criminal cases and one is a civil appeal....

The "Limited Attorney Exemption" of the Debt Adjustment and Credit Counseling Act is Held Unconstitutional as Violative of the Separation of Powers and Void for Vagueness

Anchor Law Firm, PLLC v. State of New Jersey, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). The Debt Adjustment and Credit Counseling Act, N.J.S.A. 17:16G-1 et seq. ("DACCA"), prohibits debt adjusters in New Jersey from operating for a profit. There is an exception for attorneys not "principally engaged" (a term not defined in the statute) in debt adjustment. That exception, adopted in a 1986 amendment, replaced a prior version of the DACCA that had exempted all attorneys from its scope....

Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week: Where a Party Files a Suit Alleged to Violate the UPEPA But Quickly Dismisses It, Can Defendants Then Get Counsel Fees Under the Statute?

On May 15, judges on Part C of the Appellate Division will hear oral argument in Satz v. Keshet Starr. Plaintiff, acting pro se, filed a defamation suit against defendants. Defendants filed an o order to show cause to dismiss the case and for attorneys' fees under the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act, N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-49 et seq. ("UPEPA"). The UPEPA, enacted in 2023, sought to make it more difficult to use the legal system as a weapon to bully individuals into silence by filing what have been known as SLAPP ("strategic lawsuits against public participation") suits....

"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....