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

No Meeting of the Minds Where Arbitration Clause Did Not Specify Arbitration Forum or Process

Flanzman v. Jenny Craig, Inc., 456 N.J. Super. 613 (App. Div. 2018). This opinion by Judge Fasciale today is yet another case arising out of an arbitration clause. Plaintiff, having...

Software Relied on by Appraisal Experts in Tax Appeals Must be Shown to be Reliable

Palisadium Managemen Corp. v. Borough of Cliffside Park, 456 N.J. Super. 293 (App. Div. 2018). This opinion by Judge Accurso involved an appeal from decisions of the Tax Court that...

How Not to Enter Into a Retainer Agreement

Balducci v. Cige, 456 N.J. Super. 219 (App. Div. 2018). This opinion by Judge Nugent today affirmed a trial level decision, after a plenary hearing, that voided a retainer agreement...

Court Rule Amendments Effective on September 1, 2018

The Supreme Court announced late yesterday that it has adopted a number of amendments to the New Jersey Court Rules, effective as of September 1, 2018. The full list of...

Supplementary Statement of Reasons by a Trial Level Judge, Redux

Abdelkader v. Hosny, 2018 WL 3579897 (App. Div. July 26, 2018). In State in Interest of N.P., 453 N.J. Super. 480 (App. Div. 2018), discussed here, Judge Messano discussed the...

Courts Find Attorneys' Fee Disputes "Hellish," Especially Where "The Adversaries Fan the Flames at Virtually Every Opportunity"

United States of America ex rel. Palmer v. C&D Technologies, Inc., 897 F.3d 128 (3d Cir. 2018). Today's opinion by Judge Greenberg (no relation) in a False Claims Act case...

A Lesson From Judge Geiger About Clarity in Attorney Time Entries

Giarusso v. Giarusso, 455 N.J. Super. 42 (App. Div. 2018). This opinion by Judge Geiger today involved an application for attorneys' fees in a matrimonial matter by a well-known North...

Judge Fuentes Offers Appellate Practice Tips

Judge Jose Fuentes has often been willing to share his views about what is and is not good appellate practice. Examples of that were discussed here and here. At last...

A Reminder About the Importance of the Appellate Appendix

White Glove Hospitality, LLC v. Stockton University, 2018 WL 1352589 (App. Div. March 16, 2018). Many seminars and articles about appellate practice focus on tips for writing better briefs or...

Some Tips on the Appellate Rules from Judge Messano

State of New Jersey in the Interest of N.P., 453 N.J. Super. 480 (App. Div. 2018). This decision by Judge Messano addresses four appeals involving seven different juveniles. The broad...

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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....