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

Humpty Dumpty and Joyce Kilmer, Together, Thanks to Judge Fisher

Freedman v. Sufrin, 443 N.J. Super. 128 (App. Div. 2015). This opinion by Judge Fisher today involved the proper interpretation of a restrictive covenant that purported to restrict the removal...

An Anniversary of a Key Prerogative Writs Opinion

Sixty-five years ago today, on November 20, 1950, the Supreme Court decided Fischer v. Bedminster Tp., 5 N.J. 534 (1950). That opinion, written by Justice Heher, contains one of the...

The "Voting Paradox": Perverse and Fascinating

Hanover 3201 Realty, LLC v. Village Supermarkets, Inc., 806 F.3d 162 (3d Cir. 2015). The number of different issues that judicial opinions present never ceases to amaze. This appeal, which...

A Landmark Civil Rights Opinion by Judge Ambro

Hassan v. City of New York, 804 F.3d 277 (3d Cir. 2015). This opinion by Judge Ambro yesterday is one of the most important decisions that the Third Circuit has...

Disgorgement of Employee's Compensation May be Awarded Even Where Breach of Duty of Loyalty to Employer Does Not Cause Damage

Kaye v. Rosefielde, 223 N.J. 218 (2015). Kaye v. Rosefielde, 432 N.J. Super. 421 (App. Div. 2013), discussed here, seemed destined for Supreme Court review. The Court did grant review,...

40 Years Ago Today, A Questionable Mootness Decision

On this date in 1975, the Supreme Court decided Oxfeld v. New Jersey State Bd. of Educ., 68 N.J. 301 (1978). The case involved claims of students at Columbia High...

Not a Lease, Not a License, but a Profit a Prendre

Van Horn v. Harmony Sand & Gravel, 442 N.J. Super. 333 (App. Div. 2015). When is a document titled "Lease Agreement" not a lease? When it is in fact, regardless...

The Anniversary of Hinfey v. Matawan Regional Bd. of Educ.

As the role of administrative agencies has grown, it has happened that more than one agency has, or arguably has, jurisdiction over the same matter. How is it determined which...

A Rebuttal on Equitable Mootness

In re Tribune Media Company, 799 F.3d 272 (3d Cir. 2015). Roughly one month ago, Judge Krause authored a powerful concurring opinion in In re One2One Communications, LLC, 805 F.3d...

"Retired and on Recall" Superior Court Judges are Constitutional, Supreme Court Says in State v. Buckner

State v. Buckner, 223 N.J. 1 (2015). In one of the biggest cases of the current the Supreme Court term, the Court today upheld the practice of permitting retired judges...

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Sentencing Counsel's Limited Investigation of Defendant's Citizenship Was Not Constitutionally Ineffective in the Circumstances

State v. Hernandez-Peralta, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). Justice Wainer Apter's decision today for a 5-2 Supreme Court majority began by phrasing the issue presented. "In this appeal, we consider whether sentencing counsel was constitutionally ineffective for failing to investigate defendant's citizenship status beyond asking him if he was a United States citizen and receiving an unequivocal ‘yes,' and therefore not advising him that his plea could make him subject to deportation." The majority found, based on the particular facts, that counsel was not constitutionally ineffective, reversing the two lower courts. Justice Noriega, joined by Justice Fasciale, dissented....

The 2025-26 General Assignment Order

Chief Justice Rabner announced the 2025-26 General Assignment Order. It is available here....

New Jersey's Charity Care Program for Hospitals is Not a Per Se Unconstitutional Taking of Property

Englewood Hospital & Medical Center v. State, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). New Jersey has had a charity care program, in one form or another, for 178 years. As Justice Fasciale summarized the current charity care program in his opinion for a unanimous Supreme Court, under the current program "hospitals cannot turn away a patient for inability to pay, N.J.S.A. 26:2H-18.64, and patients who qualify for charity care shall not be billed for services rendered, N.J.A.C. 10:52-11.4. Instead, ‘disproportionate share hospitals' (DSHs), or hospitals that serve a disproportionate number of low-income patients, see N.J.S.A. 26:2H-18.52, receive annual subsidies from the Health Care Subsidy Fund (HCSF) in exchange for providing charity care, see N.J.S.A. 26:2H-18.52, .58, .58d."...

A Municipal Court Administrator is Employed by the Township, Not the Administrative Office of the Courts

Palmisano v. State of New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). The opening paragraph of Judge Marczyk's opinion for the Appellate Division well encapsulates what the appeal was about and what the result was. "Plaintiff Lindsay Palmisano appeals from the trial court's April 1, 2024 order dismissing her complaint with prejudice against defendant State of New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts and Municipal Division (AOC) pursuant to Rule 4:6-2(e). The primary issue on appeal is whether plaintiff, a municipal court administrator, is an employee of the AOC, thereby allowing her to assert a claim against the AOC under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD), N.J.S.A. 10:5-1 to -49. Based on our review of the record and the applicable legal principles, we conclude plaintiff was employed by Vernon Township (Township), not the AOC, and, therefore, we affirm."...