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

Tea Party Challenge to District Map Fails

Gonzalez v. State of New Jersey Apportionment Comm'n, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2012). The Tea Party has had little electoral success in New Jersey. Its efforts to achieve...

Ten Years Since Lonegan I

On this date in 2002, the Supreme Court of New Jersey decided Lonegan v. State, 174 N.J. 435 (2002). There, plaintiffs mounted a challenge to numerous types of state "contract debt"...

Seatbelt Law is Intended to Protect Public Health and Safety and Can be Used as a Predicate for Conviction of a Serious Crime

State v. Lenihan, 427 N.J. Super. 499 (App. Div. 2012). Would it not seem "obvious" that N.J.S.A. 39:3-76.2f, New Jersey's "seatbelt law," is intended to protect the public health and...

Supreme Court Affirms Appellate Division's Rejection of Suit Challenging "Kyleigh's Law"

Trautmann v. Christie, 211 N.J. 300 (2012). "Kyleigh's Law" requires teenage drivers to place an identifying marker on their cars. That law displeased some, particularly the affected drivers and their...

DePascale v. New Jersey: The Supreme Court Speaks

DePascale v. State of New Jersey, 211 N.J. 40 (2012). Article VI, section 6, paragraph 6 of the New Jersey Constitution states that "[t]he Justices of the Supreme Court and...

Supreme Court Will Issue DePascale Decision Tomorrow

The Supreme Court announced this morning that it will issue its decision in DePascale v. New Jersey, the "Judges Pension Case," tomorrow at 10 A.M. The ruling is likely to...

Supreme Court Will Review State v. Heine

The Supreme Court announced this morning that it has granted certification in State v. Heine, 424 N.J. Super. 48 (App. Div. 2012). The Appellate Division's decision is discussed here. The...

No Surprise: Supreme Court Grants Review of In re Plan for the Abolition of the Council on Affordable Housing

In In re Plan for the Abolition of the Council on Affordable Housing, 424 N.J. Super. 410 (App. Div. 2012), the Appellate Division held that Governor Christie could not unilaterally...

An Abbott v. Burke Anniversary

In Abbott v. Burke, the long-running saga regarding school funding that began with what is now known as Abbott I, 100 N.J. 269 (1985), and continues today, the Supreme Court...

A Statesman/Chief Justice Enables the Supreme Court to Uphold the Affordable Care Act

National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, 132 S.Ct. 2566 (2012). Today, the Supreme Court of the United States voted 5-4 to uphold the constitutionality of the so-called "individual mandate," a centerpiece...

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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."...