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

A Supreme Court Civil Opinion About Appealability, and an Appellate Division Criminal Decision About a Deported Defendant's Failure to Appear at a Pretrial Conference

Brehme v. Irwin, 259 N.J.505 (2025). One might intuitively think that a plaintiff who accepts full payment of a civil judgment for damages from an auto accident including pain and suffering, disability, impairment, loss of enjoyment of life, and past lost wages, and signs a warrant to satisfy judgment cannot then an appeal a ruling on a motion in limine that barred evidence of future medical expenses....

January, So Far

With the coming of the new year, this blog went onto a new platform. That fact, along with a Supreme Court oral argument and a Committee on Character hearing last week, has left this blog behind as 2025 begins. Our appellate courts, however, have been active. Here are summaries of their January 2025 published opinions to date:...

The Days Before Christmas

No one can say that in the days before Christmas, "not a creature was stirring" in our appellate courts. The Supreme Court issued one decision and the Appellate Division published...

The Supreme Court Will Review Four Unpublished Appellate Division Decisions

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in four new matters. All of those involve unpublished opinions of the Appellate Division. In State v. Taylor, the question presented...

State v. Jackson, 243 N.J. 52 (2020), Is Not to be Given Full Retroactivity

State v. Hand, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2024). In State v. Jackson, 243 N.J. 52 (2020), the Supreme Court reversed the defendant's conviction because his counsel was barred...

Charity Care, A Graves Act Issue, and a Warrantless Search of an Arrestee's Vehicle at a Police Station Come Before the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in three new appeals. The lone civil case in that group is Englewood Hospital & Medical Center v. State of New...

Last Week in the Appellate Division

Today is Election Day, and courts are closed. That offers the opportunity to catch up with the Appellate Division, which issued three published opinions last week. Here are summaries of...

A Criminal Appeal Involving the "Duty to Retreat," and a Civil Case About the Statute of Limitations for Breach of an Installment Contract

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in two new appeals. One is a criminal matter and the other a civil case. The criminal case is State v....

An Ex Post Facto/Parole Case for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in Krug v. New Jersey State Parole Bd. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk's office, is "Does...

Five New Supreme Court Grants of Review

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in five new appeals. Two of those entailed motions for leave to appeal, while the Court granted certification in the other...

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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."...