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

A Cemetery Act Anniversary

It's likely that few of us think much about interment and disinterment of the deceased except when death visits our families or friends. But on this date in 2009, the...

Governor Christie Will Not Re-Nominate Justice Hoens to the Supreme Court

Governor Christie announced today that he will not re-nominate Justice Hoens to the Supreme Court once her initial seven-year term expires later this year. Instead, he is nominating Judge Faustino J....

Railroad Can Take Private Property if "Not Incompatible With the Public Interest" and as "The Exigencies of Business May Demand"

Norfolk Southern Railway Co. v. Intermodal Properties, LLC, 210 N.J. 261 (2013). New Jersey law allows railroads and public utilities to take private property by eminent domain. N.J.S.A. 48:3-17.7 requires that any such taking...

Relaxed Standard of Coventry Square, Not Stricter Standard of Medici, Applies to Proof of Negative Criteria for Conditonal Use Variances

TSI East Brunswick, LLC v. East Brunswick Bd. of Adj., 215 N.J. 26 (2013). The Municipal Land Use Law ("MLUL"), N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70(d)(3), authorizes applications for conditional use variances. A conditional use is...

"Appearance of Impropriety" Standard Continues to Apply to Quasi-Judicial Municipal Bodies

Kane Properties, LLC v. City of Hoboken, 214 N.J. 199 (2013). This opinion by Justice Hoens affirms, as modified, the decision of the Appellate Division in this municipal land use matter, reported at...

Use Variance Applicant Need Not Show That Subject Property is the Only Available Site for the Use

Price v. Himeji, LLC, 214 N.J. 263 (2013). Himeji, LLC applied to the Union City Board of Adjustment for a use variance, density, height, and other variances, and a waiver necessary for the construction of a...

Ski Act Does Not Govern Accidents Between Skiers

Angland v. Mountain Creek Resort, Inc., 213 N.J. 99 (2013). Plaintiffs' decedent had a skiing accident with a snowboarder, from which plaintiff's' decedent later died. His estate sued the ski area and the...

Estate of Desir v. Vertus Reversed: Defendant Owed No Duty of Care

Estate of Desir v. Vertus, 214 N.J. 303 (2013). In this case, which involved the application of premises liability and the rescue doctrine to a tragic shooting death, the Appellate Division reversed the Law...

More About Notice Under the Municipal Land Use Law

Northgate Condominium Ass'n, Inc. v. Hillsdale Planning Bd., 214 N.J. 120 (2013). Opponents of land use development applications sometimes contest the adequacy of the notice given by development applicants, as occurred in...

A Very Important Ruling About Late Notices of Tort Claim

D.D. v. University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey, 213 N.J. 130 (2013). Under the New Jersey Tort Claims Act, N.J.S.A. 59:8-1 et seq. ("TCA"), no lawsuit can be filed against...

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With the Appellate Division's Recess Over, The Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week is Another Waiver of Arbitration Case

On Tuesday, April 29, judges on Part F of the Appellate Division will hear oral argument in Newport Associates Development Co. v. Chubb Ins. Co. The appeal arises out of the denial by the Law Division of the motion of defendant AIG Specialty Insurance Company ("ASIC") to compel arbitration of plaintiffs' claim for indemnity in connection with underlying litigation with Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. and Public Service Electric and Gas Company. The Law Division held that ASIC had waived its contractual right to demand arbitration....

Another Quartet of New Cases for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in four new appeals. Three are from unpublished opinions of the Appellate Division, while the fourth is from a published decision in a criminal case....

A Recess for the Appellate Division, and for This Blog

The Appellate Division is in a recess this week and next. No oral arguments will occur during that period....

Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week: Has the School Funding Reform Act Denied Lakewood Public School Students the Constitutionally-Required "Thorough and Efficient" Education?

On Tuesday, April 8, judges on Part D will hear oral argument in Alcantar v. Allen-McMillan, a case filed in 2014 in which the Appellate Division has ruled before, 475 N.J. Super. 56 (App. Div. 2023). This appeal follows on the Appellate Division's prior ruling, unappealed by the State...