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

Two New Cases for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in two cases, which are numbers A-2 and A-3 in the current Term. Both appeals are from published opinions by three-judge...

The Supreme Court Restructures Remittitur and Additur

Orientale v. Jennings, 239 N.J. 569 (2019). As Justice Albin's opinion for a unanimous Court today described, remittitur and additur (the ability of a trial judge to reduce or increase...

An Anniversary in Public Bidding Law

On this date in 1996, the Supreme Court decided Tormee Construction, Inc. v. Mercer Cty. Improvement Auth. That day saw the Court's decision issued, nine days after the case was...

Busy Days at the Third Circuit

Though the Supreme Court of New Jersey and the Appellate Division are only just beginning to ramp up in the new Term, the Third Circuit has been pumping out published...

Statements Against Interest, a Hearsay Exception

Rowe v. Bell & Gossett Co., 239 N.J. 531 (2019). This first Supreme Court opinion of the new Term, written by Justice Patterson for a unanimous Court, addresses the hearsay...

The Supreme Court Takes Up a Complex Foreclosure Case

[Disclosure: I represent the petitioner in this matter.] The Supreme Court today announced its first grant of review in the new Term. The case is West Pleasant-CPGT, Inc. v. U.S....

No Regulatory or Common Law Duty for Landlord to Cover Radiator With Insulating Material in Order to Avoid Injury to Tenant

J.H. v. R&M Tagliereni, LLC, 239 N.J. 198 (2019). [There was the potential of a guest post regarding this case, but that did not pan out. That's the reason for...

Three More Supreme Court Grants of Review

The Supreme Court announced that is has granted certification in three more cases. Two of them are criminal appeals. The third is an insurance case in which, due to a...

The Supreme Court Takes Up Five More Cases

The Supreme Court announced today that it has granted review in five more cases. In four of those matters, the Court granted certification. The fifth case will be before the...

"Affirmed by an Equally Divided Court"

L.R. v. Camden City Public School Dist., 238 N.J. 547 (2019). A relative rarity for our Supreme Court occurred in this case today: the decision of the Appellate Division was...

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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."...