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

Tax Appeal Filed by Someone Other Than Taxpayer is Ineffective

Prime Accounting Dep't v. Township of Carney's Point, 421 N.J. Super. 199 (App. Div. 2011). A complaint that sought to contest the assessment of certain property was filed in the Tax...

"Shall" We? Is it "Necessary"?

In re State Bd. of Education's Denial of Petition to Adopt Regulations Implementing the New Jersey High School Voter Registration Law, 2011 WL 1529734 (App. Div. 2011). Public interest organizations submitted a...

"Interests of Justice" Provision Does Not Aid Tax Appeal Plaintiffs Who Did Not Pay Subject Taxes Timely

Dover-Chester Associates v. Randolph Tp., 419 N.J. Super. 184 (App. Div. 2011). The procedural history of these consolidated appeals was somewhat convoluted, but the legal issue was straightforward, as Judge Espinosa phrased...

Statute of Frauds Amendment That Covers Palimony Agreements is Not Retroactive

Botis v. Estate of Kudrick, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2011). January 18, 2010 was the effective date of an amendment to the Statute of Frauds that includes palimony agreements among...

The Effect on the Appellate Division of a Split in Federal Decisions on a Constitutional Issue

State v. Witczak, 2011 WL 1364012 (App. Div. April 12, 2011). This blog usually is allergic to criminal decisions. But this criminal case involved a virtually even split in the federal Circuit Courts...

Want to Collect a Debt Even Though the Statute of Limitations Has Run? No Problem!

Huertas v. Galaxy Asset Management, 2011 WL 1361568 (3d Cir. April 11, 2011). It may seem strange that someone can lawfully try to collect a debt even after the statute of limitations...

Public Employer May Deny Use of Compensatory Time on Requested Date Even Without Showing Undue Disruption

Nutley Policemen's Benevolent Ass'n v. Township of Nutley, 419 N.J. Super. 160 (App. Div. 2011). The federal Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") , 29 U.S.C. §§201-219, requires a public employer who gives an...

Two New Pro-Consumer Decisions

RAB Performance Recoveries, LLC v. George, 419 N.J. Super. 81 (App. Div. 2011), and Cowger v. Cherry Hill Mitsubishi, Inc., 2011 WL 848133 (App. Div. March 14, 2011). The Appellate Division recently...

Individual Condominium Unit Owners Cannot Protest Zoning Ordinance Under Municipal Land Use Law

Jennings v. Borough of Highlands, 418 N.J. Super. 405 (App. Div. 2011). "The right to protest zoning amendments has existed in this State for more than eighty years." A successful protest under...

What is a "School"?

State v. Shelley, 205 N.J. 320 (2011). Statutory interpretation questions pop up endlessly. In this case, defendant was accused of selling cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:35-7, which criminalizes drug...

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An Arbitration Case and a Cannabis Land Use Appeal for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in two new appeals. One of those is from a published Appellate Division decision, while the other appeal is from an unpublished opinion of a two-judge Appellate Division panel....

Murder Trial Judge Inadequately Addressed Juror Misconduct, Requiring Remand to Determine Whether Jury Was Tainted

State v. Byrd, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). Justice Noriega authored the Court's unanimous opinion in this case today. During the murder trial that led to this appeal, allegations of misconduct by a certain juror, No. 8, surfaced. That juror allegedly conducted outside research, discussed the case with third parties, texted one of the defendants, and expressed an intent to find defendants guilty. The trial judge questioned Juror No. 8, but on appeal from defendants' convictions, the Supreme Court concluded that the trial court's inquiry "was insufficiently tailored to the allegations against the juror, failed to probe into the heart of the allegations, and was therefore inadequate." The Court remanded the case for further proceedings....

Attorney General's Supersession of the Paterson Police Department Was Not Arbitrary, Capricious, or Unreasonable

Bulur v. Office of the Attorney General, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). In 2023, after a fatal shooting by Paterson police officers, the New Jersey Attorney General announced on March 27, 2023 that his office was superseding (that is, taking over responsibility for) the Paterson Police Department. Lawsuits were filed and transferred to the Appellate Division. In an opinion reported at 480 N.J. Super. 395 (App. Div. 2024), and summarized here, the Appellate Division voided the supersession. Today, the Supreme Court reversed in a unanimous opinion by Justice Patterson....

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....