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

Parent Did Not "Abandon" Child So As to Lose Right to Share of Son's Intestate Estate

In re Estate of Michael D. Fisher, II, 443 N.J. Super. 180 (App. Div. 2015). Under N.J.S.A. 3B:5-4(b), when a person dies with no spouse or children, the person's parents...

OPRA Records Custodian Cannot Bring Declaratory Judgment Case to Preempt OPRA Suit by Requestor

In re New Jersey Firemen's Ass'n Obligation to Provide Relief Applications Under the Open Public Records Act, 443 N.J. Super. 238 (App. Div. 2015). The OPRA (Open Public Records Act)...

OPRA Demand for Information About Certain Out-of-State Travel by Governor Christie Was Properly Denied

Lagerkvist v. Office of the Governor, 443 N.J. Super. 230 (App. Div. 2015). Plaintiff, a journalist, made a request under the Open Public Records Act, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq. ("OPRA")...

An Easy Statute of Limitations Case for the Supreme Court

In re Petition for Referendum to Repeal Ordinance 2354-12 of West Orange Tp., 223 N.J. 589 (2015). This appeal involved the timeliness of a challenge to a bond ordinance for...

Weakness of State Action Argument in Civil Rights Act Nude Entertainment Case is Laid Bare and Exposed

PRBA Corp. v. HMS Host Toll Roads, Inc., 808 F.3d 221 (3d Cir. 2015). Plaintiff, which does business as Bare Exposure, operates a "gentleman's club" in Atlantic City. The club...

A Labor Union's Discipline of One of Its Members

Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 22 v. Kavanagh, 443 N.J. Super. 39 (App. Div. 2015). This opinion by Judge Currier today addressed an appeal by defendant, a former member of...

Farmland is Not a "Brownfield," So Application to Construct Solar Facility on Farmland Failed

In re Implementation of L. 2012, c. 24, 443 N.J. Super. 73 (App. Div. 2015). The Solar Act of 2012 ("the Act"), chapter 24 of the Laws of 2012, amended...

A Summary Contempt Proceeding Goes Awry

Ippolito v. Ippolito, 445 N.J. Super. 1 (App. Div. 2015). This opinion by Judge Fisher today involved an appeal from a summary contempt proceeding. Counsel for plaintiff in this matrimonial...

Summary Action to "Enforce Agency Orders" Cannot Proceed Where Agency Has Not Ordered Specific Relief

Bacon v. New Jersey State Dep't of Education, 443 N.J. Super. 24 (App. Div. 2015). Many of us know about so-called "Abbott school districts," districts in economically distressed urban areas...

How to Terminate a Contract for Sale of Residential Real Estate

Conley v. Guerrero, 443 N.J. Super. 62 (App. Div. 2015). As a result of a settlement in New Jersey State Bar Ass'n v. New Jersey Ass'n of Realtor Bds., 93...

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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."...