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

"Third Circuit Practice: A Practitioner's Guide"

At the upcoming 38th Annual United States District Court Judicial Conference sponsored by the Association of the Federal Bar of New Jersey on March 20, 2014, one of the programs...

Appellate Practice: Lessons Learned From on High

On March 25, the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education will present this seminar. Details and registration information can be found here. I am a panelist, in the extremely...

A Tip From Justice Patterson

Justice Patterson was among the panelists at a seminar on mass torts tonight. In the course of her remarks about preserving issues on appeal, writing effective appellate briefs, and presenting...

Does a Pending Decision on Attorneys' Fees Render an Entered Judgment Less Than Final?

Ray Haluch Gravel Co. v. Central Pension Fund, ___ U.S. ___ (2014). In New Jersey state court, if attorneys' fee issues remain to be adjudicated, any judgment entered is considered...

New Amendments to the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure

Effective December 1, 2013, amendments to several Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure ("FRAP") became effective. There are changes, all of which relate to appeals from the United States Tax Court,...

Transfer of Venue and Forum Non Conveniens

Atlantic Marine Const. Co. v. U.S. District Court, 571 U.S. ___ (2013). This case offers a lesson in differentiating when, in a contract case where the applicable agreement contains a...

Ignorance of the Rules Does Not Constitute Excusable Neglect

Eastman v. First Data Corp., 736 F.3d 675 (3d Cir. 2013). Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(f) permits the losing party on a motion to certify a class, whether plaintiff...

An Important Decision That Has Had Five Years to "Grow" on Everyone

Five years ago today, the Appellate Division decided Grow Company, Inc. v. Chokshi, 403 N.J. Super. 443 (App. Div. 2008). There, Judge Fisher, writing for the panel, produced a seminal...

Rule 2:11-3(e)(1)(E)- The "That's Ridiculous" Rule

Most judges dislike briefs that assert that an adversary's legal argument is "ridiculous," "absurd," "preposterous," or the like. Judges often say that a statement that an opposing position is "without...

Practice Tips From the Ninth Circuit

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has published "The Appellate Lawyer Representatives' Guide to Practice in the United States Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit." That Guide is available...

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No Ethics Violation in Attorney Purchasing Another Attorney's Name as a Keyword for Internet Searches, the Supreme Court Says, With a Caveat

In re Opinion No. 735 of the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). [Disclosure: I represented an amicus curiae in this appeal]. As Justice Noriega said in his opinion for a 5-1 majority (Justice Pierre-Louis did not participate), this appeal "presents the narrow question of whether it is permissible under the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) for an attorney or law firm to purchase a competing attorney's or law firm's name as a keyword." The Court found it permissible, with a caveat. Justice Fasciale dissented....

Four Criminal Law Cases, and a Qui Tam Appeal, for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced today that it has granted review in five new appeals. One of them is before the Court on leave to appeal, while in the others the Court granted certification....

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....