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

No Attorneys' Fees Under OPRA Where Requested Documents Were Produced Before OPRA Lawsuit Was Filed

Stop & Shop Supermarket Co., LLC v. County of Bergen, 450 N.J. Super. 286 (App. Div. 2017). The Open Public Records Act, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 to -13 ("OPRA"), permits suits for...

Making Up for Lost Time

Several days out of the office last week, and work on a large appellate brief, have left me well behind our appellate courts, who have produced a number of decisions...

Undoing "Subtle Misinterpretations of … Longstanding Jurisprudence" Regarding Preliminary Injunctions in the Third Circuit

Reilly v. City of Harrisburg, 858 F.3d 173 (3d Cir. 2017). This case involved claims by plaintiffs that an ordinance of the City of Harrisburg unconstitutionally deprived them of the...

A Guardian of a Child Who Did Not Intervene to Stop Severe Corporal Punishment by the Child's Mother is Guilty of Abuse and Neglect

New Jersey Division of Child Permanency & Protection v. J.L.G., 450 N.J. Super. 113 (App. Div. 2015), aff'd o.b., 229 N.J. 113 (2017). This abuse and neglect case resulted in...

A Violation of a Regulation Can be "Knowing" Even if There is No Judicial Decision Saying So at the Time of the Conduct at Issue

Allstate Ins. Co. v. Northfield Medical Center, P.C., 228 N.J. 596 (2017). After a bench trial, defendants were found to have violated the Insurance Fraud Prevention Act, N.J.S.A. 17:33A-1 to...

An Administrative Regulation, "A Linguistic Morass," is Invalidated as Arbitrary and Capricious

In re N.J.A.C. 12:17-2.1, 450 N.J. Super. 152 (App. Div. 2017). Given the deferential standard of review of the validity of regulations promulgated by administrative agencies, it is relatively rare...

A "Hostile Environment" LAD Claim in a Police Station, a Place of Public Accommodation

Holmes v. Jersey City Police Department, 449 N.J. Super. 600 (App. Div. 2017). Today's decision by Judge Reisner in this case under the Law Against Discrimination, N.J.S.A. 10:5-2 et seq....

A Tour Through the Tort Claims Act With Judge Currier

Patrick v. City of Elizabeth, 449 N.J. Super. 565 (App. Div. 2017). The Tort Claims Act, N.J.S.A. 59:1-1 to 59:12-3 ("TCA"), contains numerous immunities and other impediments for plaintiffs who...

Notice of Disapproval of a Residential Real Estate Contract May Now be Given by Facsimile and Electronic Mail

Conley v. Guerrero, 228 N.J. 339 (2017). Today's decision in this case, written by Justice Solomon for a unanimous Court, largely affirmed the ruling of the Appellate Division, reported at...

Terms of Use Not to Disclosed to Consumers, on a Website That They Never Visited, Do Not Require Them to Take Grievances to Arbitration

James v. Global Tellink Corp., 852 F.3d 262 (3d Cir. 2017). In this putative class action, plaintiffs were inmates at New Jersey correctional facilities. They signed up with defendants for...

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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."...