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

Grapes Turn Sour for "Mode of Operation" Plaintiff

Jeter v. Sam's Club, ___ N.J. ___ (2022). Writing for a 4-2 majority, Justice Solomon began his opinion for the Court today as follows: "Under the ‘mode of operation' rule,...

With Judge Alvarez Retiring and Returning on Recall, Judge Haas Becomes Presiding Judge of the Appellate Division's Part D

Chief Justice Rabner issued two orders that affect Part D of the Appellate Division. One of those orders notes that Judge Alvarez is to retire on pension on March 27...

The Supreme Court Takes Up a Redevelopment Law Case and a Child Sexual Abuse Act Case

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in two new cases. One of them involved a grant of leave to appeal, while the other is before the Court...

The Balancing Test for the Common Law Right of Access to Public Records

Rivera v. Union County Prosecutor's Office, ___ N.J. ___ (2022). Employees of the Elizabeth Police Department complained to the Union County Prosecutor's Office that the Police Director, James Cosgrove, had...

Statutory Requirement That Parties to a Written Palimony Agreement Get Advice of Counsel is Unconstitutional

Moynihan v. Lynch, ___ N.J. ___ (2022). Plaintiff and defendant had what Justice Albin, in his opinion for a unanimous Supreme Court, called "a long-term ‘marital-style' relationship." Anticipating that they...

A Public Employee's Date of Separation From Employment and the Reasons Therefor Are Not Exempt From Disclosure Under OPRA

Libertarians for Transparent Government v. Cumberland County, ___ N.J. ___ (2022). This is an Open Public Records Act ("OPRA") case. A woman who had been incarcerated at the Cumberland County...

Fifteen Years Since Liberty Surplus Ins. Corp. v. Nowell Amoroso, P.A.

It's been awhile since this blog featured an anniversary post. Today is a good day to do so. On this date in 2007, the Supreme Court decided Liberty Surplus Ins...

Two Accelerated Appeals, and Four More, for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in six cases. Three of those involve grants of leave to appeal and three are grants of certification. The Court accelerated...

Justice Fernandez-Vina Reaches Age 70 and Retires From the Supreme Court

Yesterday, Justice Fernandez-Vina turned seventy years old. That is the mandatory retirement age for judges, which Justice O'Hern, for whom I clerked, referred to as "the age of constitutional senility."...

Chief Justice Rabner Announces That the Supreme Court Will Function With Six Members For Now

Following this post about Justice Fernandez-Vina's retirement earlier today, Chief Justice Rabner this afternoon issued the following statement, available here: "Under the State Constitution and the rules of the Court...

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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."...