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

New Supreme Court Appeals Raise Evidence, Workers' Compensation Act, Nominal Damages, and Affidavit of Merit Issues

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in four new matters. As is often the case, they are a varied group. In Lapsley v. Sparta Tp., the question...

The Supreme Court Largely Upholds the Attorney General's Directives Regarding Release of Police Officer Disciplinary Information

In re Attorney General Law Enforcement Directive Nos. 2020-5 and 2020-6, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). As discussed in more detail here, the Appellate Division upheld the power of the Attorney...

Justice Solomon Gets Tenure

Yesterday, the Senate voted 37-0 to give life tenure, until age 70, to Justice Solomon. He will reach that mandatory retirement age in 2024. After Governor Murphy, a Democrat, nominated...

A Criminal Appeal as of Right and a "Void as Against Public Policy" Contract Issue for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has taken up two more cases. One of those is a criminal appeal, State v. Clark, which is before the Court as of rights...

The Lodzinski Murder Jury's Guilty Verdict is Affirmed by a 3-3 Supreme Court Vote

State v. Lodzinski, 246 N.J. 331 (2021). As discussed here, this was a highly publicized case, in which a jury found defendant was guilty of the first-degree murder of her...

New Cases for the Supreme Court Involving the Tort Claims Act, Palimony and the Statute of Frauds, the "Three Strikes Law," and the "Ministerial Exception" of the First Amendment

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in four new cases. One of those appeals is from a published opinion of the Appellate Division. The others involve unpublished...

An Appeal About Whether a Case is Immediately Appealable, and Two Others for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced today that it has granted certification in three more cases. One of them, Harris v. City of Newark, involves an appellate practice issue. The question presented...

Two New Supreme Court Cases: A Direct Certification and an Appeal as of Right

The Supreme Court announced today that two more cases have been added to its docket. In one of them, the Court granted direct certification and ordered an accelerated schedule. The...

The Georgia Supreme Court Will Resume In-Person Oral Arguments. Will New Jersey's Supreme Court Do the Same in the Fall?

The Supreme Court of Georgia announced yesterday that it will resume in-person oral arguments on June 9. The press release regarding this described how things will work: "Public health protocols...

The Anniversary of Ayers v. Jackson Tp.

On this date in 1987, the Supreme Court decided Ayers v. Jackson Tp., 106 N.J. 557 (1987). As Justice Stein said in his opinion for the 6-1majority (Justice Handler dissented...

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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."...