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

Government "Cannot Erect Technological Barriers to Deny Access to Government Records That Were Previously Available Under OPRA"

Conley v. New Jersey Department of Corrections, 452 N.J. Super. 605 (App. Div. 2018). This was an appeal brought by a pro se prisoner under the Open Public Records Act,...

A Split Appellate Division Decision About the Charitable Immunity Act: On to the Supreme Court?

Green v. Monmouth University, 452 N.J. Super. 542 (App. Div. 2018). Today's opinion by Judge Leone affirmed summary judgment in favor of defendant Monmouth University under the Charitable Immunity Act,...

Creditor Who Seeks Turnover of Funds From Joint Account Must Show That Funds in That Account Belong to the Debtor

Banc of America Leasing & Capital, LLC v. Fletcher-Thompson, Inc., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2018). Judge Koblitz kicked off 2018 with a concise opinion that expresses an important...

Condominium Association Owed Duty of Care to Resident Who Fell on Stairway Lacking Center Railing

Lechler v. 303 Sunset Avenue Condominium Association, Inc., 452 N.J. Super. 574 (App. Div. 2017). The Appellate Division got in under the wire, on this final business day of 2017,...

The Final Post of 2017: The Mistaken Imprisonment Act

Watson v. New Jersey Department of Treasury, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2017). The Mistaken Imprisonment Act, N.J.S.A. 52:4C-1 to -7, ("the Act") allows claims for damages by persons...

No Temporary Disability Payments for Unemployed Volunteer Firefighter

Kocanowski v. Bridgewater Tp., 452 N.J. Super. 476 (App. Div. 2017). Plaintiff was a volunteer firefighter in Bridgewater. She slipped on ice while responding to a fire and was injured...

The Supreme Court Takes Up Accutane Appeals and an Evidence Matter

The Supreme Court announced late last Friday that it has granted review in three more cases. Two of those cases involve the long-running Accutane Multi-County Litigation, which the Court has...

No Liability Expert Needed for Plaintiff Injured by Stepping Into Hole Negligently Left by Utility Employee

Jacobs v. Jersey Central Power & Light Co., 452 N.J. Super. 494 (App. Div. 2017). This opinion by Judge Sabatino today is an abbreviated version of a longer opinion that...

The Third Circuit Overrules a Precedent "On an Important Question of Maritime Law"

Joyce v. Maersk Line Ltd., 876 F.3d 502 (3d Cir. 2017). Today's decision by Judge Jordan for a unanimous en banc court began with a pun and continued as follows:...

Judge Fuentes Warns: When Seeking Dismissal With Prejudice as a Discovery Sanction, "Follow the Procedural Safeguards" of Rule 4:23-5

Thabo v. Z Transportation, 452 N.J. Super. 359 (App. Div. 2017). Under Rule 4:23-5, failure to make discovery can, in certain circumstances, result in dismissal of a complaint with prejudice....

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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."...