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

PTI is Not a "Favorable Disposition" That Enables a Police Officer Suspended for Alleged Criminal Conduct to Recover Back Pay

In the Matter of Clifton Gauthier, Rockaway Tp., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2019). Clifton Gauthier, a Rockaway Township police officer, was suspended in January 2014, and later indicted,...

Tenure Rights Vindicated in the Supreme Court

Miller v. State Operated School District of the City of Newark, ___ N.J. ___ (2019). Today, in a per curiam opinion, the Supreme Court affirmed, by a 5-2 vote, the...

Three More Cases for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced this afternoon that it has granted review in three more cases. Each involves a grant of certification. In Gramiccioni v. Department of Law & Public Safety,...

Public Employee Pension Applications May be Reopened by Beneficiaries, Even if Those Applications Have Not Been Approved

Minsavage v. Board of Trustees, Teachers' Pension & Annuity Fund, ___ N.J. ___ (2019). This per curiam opinion addressed the question "whether a widow can modify the retirement application of...

Five More Cases, Including a Certified Question From the Third Circuit, for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has granted review in five more appeals. One of them involves a question certified to it by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, one is before the...

Limits on the Ability of the Director of the Division of Civil Rights to Sue in Superior Court

Sashihara v. Nobel Learning Communities, Inc., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2019). In this case, M.M. ("Jane"), a child with Down's Syndrome, was enrolled by her parents at a...

The Supreme Court Loads Up on New Appeals

The Supreme Court usually adds new appeals in relatively small groups. But its latest tranche of grants of review consists of eight new cases, implicating numerous different area of the...

A "Pennysaver" Anniversary

On this date in 1984, the Supreme Court decided two cases, Fairlawn Shopper, Inc. v. Director, Div. of Taxation, 98 N.J. 64 (1984), and Today Newspapers, Inc. v. Director, Div....

Two New Cases for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in two cases, which are numbers A-2 and A-3 in the current Term. Both appeals are from published opinions by three-judge...

Busy Days at the Third Circuit, Part 2

Yesterday's post noted that the Third Circuit has published a number of opinions in recent days. Here are summaries of some more of those opinions, all of which emanate from...

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An Arbitration Case and a Cannabis Land Use Appeal for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in two new appeals. One of those is from a published Appellate Division decision, while the other appeal is from an unpublished opinion of a two-judge Appellate Division panel....

Murder Trial Judge Inadequately Addressed Juror Misconduct, Requiring Remand to Determine Whether Jury Was Tainted

State v. Byrd, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). Justice Noriega authored the Court's unanimous opinion in this case today. During the murder trial that led to this appeal, allegations of misconduct by a certain juror, No. 8, surfaced. That juror allegedly conducted outside research, discussed the case with third parties, texted one of the defendants, and expressed an intent to find defendants guilty. The trial judge questioned Juror No. 8, but on appeal from defendants' convictions, the Supreme Court concluded that the trial court's inquiry "was insufficiently tailored to the allegations against the juror, failed to probe into the heart of the allegations, and was therefore inadequate." The Court remanded the case for further proceedings....

Attorney General's Supersession of the Paterson Police Department Was Not Arbitrary, Capricious, or Unreasonable

Bulur v. Office of the Attorney General, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). In 2023, after a fatal shooting by Paterson police officers, the New Jersey Attorney General announced on March 27, 2023 that his office was superseding (that is, taking over responsibility for) the Paterson Police Department. Lawsuits were filed and transferred to the Appellate Division. In an opinion reported at 480 N.J. Super. 395 (App. Div. 2024), and summarized here, the Appellate Division voided the supersession. Today, the Supreme Court reversed in a unanimous opinion by Justice Patterson....

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....