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

New Jersey Sports Gambling Law Case Argued En Banc

As discussed here, the en banc Third Circuit was to hear oral argument in this case today, and it did so this morning. The audio of that oral argument, which...

Interlocutory vs. Final Administrative Agency Decisions

Silviera-Francisco v. Elizabeth Bd. of Educ., 224 N.J. 126 (2016). "Whether a trial court order is final or interlocutory has bedeviled courts and attorneys for decades." So said Judge Cuff...

Some Common Sense on Class Actions from the U.S. Supreme Court

Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, 136 S. Ct. 846 (2016). The Supreme Court of the United States has made some dreadful decisions in the class action area, including notorious rulings restricting...

An LDG Case is Argued in the United States Supreme Court

Today, Heffernan v. City of Paterson was argued in the Supreme Court of the United States. [Disclosure: My partner Victor Afanador handled this matter on behalf of defendants in the...

A Separation of Powers Anniversary

On this date in 1992, the Supreme Court issued a landmark separation of powers opinion in Communications Workers of America v. Florio, 130 N.J. 439 (1992). There, state employees and...

The Third Circuit Schedules En Banc Oral Argument in the New Jersey Sports Gambling Law Case

As predicted here, the Third Circuit has granted en banc review in NCAA v. Governor of the State of New Jersey, 799 F.3d 259 (3d Cir. 2015). Oral argument en...

Weakness of State Action Argument in Civil Rights Act Nude Entertainment Case is Laid Bare and Exposed

PRBA Corp. v. HMS Host Toll Roads, Inc., 808 F.3d 221 (3d Cir. 2015). Plaintiff, which does business as Bare Exposure, operates a "gentleman's club" in Atlantic City. The club...

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...

Summary Action to "Enforce Agency Orders" Cannot Proceed Where Agency Has Not Ordered Specific Relief

Bacon v. New Jersey State Dep't of Education, 443 N.J. Super. 24 (App. Div. 2015). Many of us know about so-called "Abbott school districts," districts in economically distressed urban areas...

The Third Circuit Grants En Banc Review in the New Jersey Sports Gambling Law Case

As discussed here, a panel of the Third Circuit, by a 2-1 vote, had affirmed a decision of the District Court that had blocked New Jersey's Sports Wagering Act, N.J.S.A....

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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."...