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

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...

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...

Pennsylvania Rule Waiving Bar Exam Requirement for Admission Only for Attorneys Licensed in Jurisdictions That Offer Reciprocity to Pennsylvania Attorneys is Constitutional

National Ass'n for the Advancement of Multijurisdiction Practice (NAAMP) v. Castille, 799 F.3d 216 (3d Cir. 2015). For many years, New Jersey has not offered "reciprocity" to allow attorneys licensed...

Another New Jersey Sports Gambling Law Bites the Dust

National Collegiate Athletic Ass'n v. Governor of the State of New Jersey, 799 F.3d 259 (3d Cir. 2015). In 2012, in an effort to aid Atlantic City, New Jersey passed...

Physician Who Was Retired at the Time of "the Occurrence That is the Basis for the Action" is Not "Statutorily Authorized to Testify" as an Expert in a Medical Malpractice Case

Medina v. Pitta, 442 N.J. Super. 1 (App. Div. 2015). The New Jersey Medical Care Access and Responsibility and Patients First Act, N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-37 to -42 ("PFA"), "established enhanced qualification...

Redd v. Bowman: The Supreme Court Says That the Faulkner Act Initiative Proponents Must Start All Over Again

Redd v. Bowman, 223 N.J. 87 (2015). In Redd v. Bowman, 433 N.J. Super. 178 (App. Div. 2013), discussed here, the Appellate Division held that an initiative petition with a...

"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...

IFPA Claims by Private Insurers are Subject to Trial by Jury

Allstate New Jersey Ins. Co. v. Lajara, 222 N.J. 129 (2015). The Insurance Fraud Prevention Act, N.J.S.A. 17:33A-1 to-30 ("IFPA"), permits insurance companies to sue those who engage in insurance...

Catching Up

My three-week trial ended late last week, with a successful jury verdict. But June was a very busy month in the world of New Jersey appellate practice, with numerous important...

The Anniversary of Plessy v. Ferguson, Another Low Point for the United States Supreme Court

On May 18, 1896, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896). This is another of the Court's "Supreme Mistakes," as voted by...

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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."...