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

Landowner Must Exhaust Land Use Law Remedies Before Filing Civil Rights Act Claim

Rezem Family Associates, LP v. Borough of Millstone, 2011 WL 1432181 (App. Div. April 15, 2011). Plaintiff ("Rezem") owned a 67-acre tract of vacant land. Rezem entered into a series of contracts to sell...

36 Years Since Mount Laurel I

On this date in 1975, the Supreme Court of New Jersey decided Southern Burlington Cty. NAACP v. Mount Laurel Tp., 67 N.J. 151 (1975). There, the Court held that each...

Big Employment Discrimination Verdict Upheld; Punitive Damages and Counsel Fees Reduced

Saffos v. Avaya, Inc., 419 N.J. Super. 244 (App. Div. 2011). A jury found that defendant Avaya's termination of plaintiff's employment had violated the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination ("NJLAD"), in that...

Former Assemblyman Has No Right to Appeal to Appellate Division, But Wins His Appeal There Anyway

Vas v. Roberts, 418 N.J. Super. 509 (App. Div. 2011). Former Assemblyman Joseph Vas was indicted while in office for crimes of public corruption. In response to those indictments, then Assembly Speaker...

"Hurtful" Speech on "Matters of Public Concern" Is Protected by the First Amendment

Snyder v. Phelps, 131 S. Ct. 1207 (2011). Members of a Baptist church who believe that God punishes the United States and its military for tolerating homosexuality picketed near a soldier's...

Youthful Driver Decal Sticks

Trautmann v. Christie, 418 N.J. Super. 559 (App. Div. 2011). In 2009, the Legislature passed a law that required drivers who have learner's permits or probationary licenses to display a special decal...

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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."...