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....

Property Cannot be Condemned Solely to Exchange it for Property That Will be Put to a Public Use

Township of Jackson v. Getzel Bee, LLC, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). This eminent domain opinion by Judge Berdote Byrne involved two consolidated cases. Plaintiff Township sought to acquire two pieces of property owned by defendants, .Block 21601, Lots 84 and 90. When defendants did not respond, plaintiff commenced condemnation proceedings....

Immunity Under the Landowners Liability Act

Arias v. County of Bergen, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2024). This was a personal injury case. Plaintiff fell in a hole and sustained injuries while rollerblading on a...

The Administrative Agency Standard of Review Applies to Internal Decisions of a University Regarding Removal of a Tenured Faculty Member

Ng v. Fairleigh Dickinson University, 478 N.J. Super. 41 (App. Div. 2024). This opinion by Judge Smith upheld the decision of the Board of Trustees to terminate the employment of...

Policyholder Loses in the Supreme Court on Claims for Business Interruption Insurance Coverage for COVID-19 Losses

AC Ocean Walk, LLC v. American Guarantee & Liability Ins. Co., 256 N.J. 294 (2024). [Disclosure: I was one of the counsel for United Policyholders, an amicus in support of...

Affidavit of Merit "Alleging Collective Negligence by Multiple Unidentifiable Nurses Was Inadequate"

Hargett v. Hamilton Park Opco, LLC, 477 N.J. Super. 390 (App. Div. 2023). Judge Vinci wrote the opinion in this case under the Affidavit of Merit statute, N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-26 et...

Disqualification of Counsel Reversed on Leave to Appeal, Due to Trial Court's Failure to Apply the Trupos Test

Dental Health Assocs. South Jersey, P.A. v. RRI Gibbsboro, LLC, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2022). Trial court decisions disqualifying counsel are often cited as the type of ruling...

Another Committee on Character Anniversary

Due to my fifteen-year service on the Supreme Court of New Jersey Committee on Character, the date of any Supreme Court decision that implicates the Committee on Character is a...

Two From the Supreme Court

Gilbert v. Stewart, ___ N.J. ___ (2021); H.C. Equities, L.P. v. County of Union, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). So far this week, the Supreme Court has issued two opinions, with...

Both a Tax Collector and Her Municipal Employer Can be Liable Under Civil Rights Acts for Improper Refusal to Redeem Property to Avoid Foreclosure

Winberry Realty Partnership v. Borough of Rutherford, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). [Disclosure: I am one of the counsel for the successful plaintiffs in this case.] This case has a long...

12 3 4…Last

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...