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

"Extraordinary Circumstances" Justifying Late Notice of Tort Claim

Beyer v. Sea Bright Borough, 440 N.J. Super. 424 (App. Div. 2015). The New Jersey Tort Claims Act, N.J.S.A. 59:8-8, requires anyone who wants to bring a tort claim against...

Towns Can't Impose Additional Requirements, Even Redundant Ones, on Gun Applications

In re Denial of Application of Z.K. for a New Jersey Firearms Purchaser Identification Card and Permit to Purchase, 440 N.J. Super. 394 (App. Div. 2015). Yesterday, while many of...

The Appellate Division Rejects Ascertainability as a Class Action Criterion, and Changes the Rules for Interlocutory Appeals of Class Certification Decisions

Daniels v. Hollister Co., 440 N.J. Super. 359 (App. Div. 2015). Readers of this blog have gotten their fill (including, most recently, here and here) of discussion and analysis of...

Motions for Reconsideration, and "Little Used" Statutes Protecting the Priority of Employees' Wages Against Creditors of the Employer

The Pitney Bowes Bank, Inc. v. ABC Caging Fulfillment, 440 N.J. Super. 378 (App. Div. 2015). There are not many published appellate opinions that discuss the rules for levying or...

For Want of a Transcript, An Appellate Issue is Forfeited

Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. v. Gateway Funding Diversified Mortgage Services, L.P., 785 F.3d 96 (3d Cir. 2015). Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 10 requires an appellant to "order … a...

A Turning Point for the Carrera v. Bayer Ascertainability Doctrine?

Byrd v. Aaron's Inc., 784 F.3d 154 (3d Cir. 2015). In this case under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. §2511, there were "objective records" that could "readily identify"...

Supreme Court's Decision in Shelton v. Restaurant.com Applies Retroactively to Plaintiffs

Bohus v. Restaurant.com, Inc., 784 F.3d 918 (3d Cir. 2015). [Disclosure: I argued this appeal for plaintiffs in this case]. Retroactivity of judicial opinions is sometimes a difficult question. The...

Law of the Case Doctrine Does Not Extend From One Party to Another Party Not in Privity

State v. K.P.S., 221 N.J. 266 (2015). Two defendants who had been charged in the same indictment with many of the same crimes sought to suppress certain evidence. The Law...

History of Domestic Disputes Supports Denial of Gun Permit

In re Appeal of Z.L. From Denial of Firearms Purchaser Identification Card and Handgun Permits, 440 N.J. Super. 351 (App. Div. 2015). Z.L. applied for a firearms purchaser identification card...

Emancipation of a Child Terminates Child Support

Llewelyn v. Shewchuk, 440 N.J. Super. 207 (App. Div. 2015). Orders directing that one parent in a divorce provide payments of child support terminate once the child become emancipated. Yesterday's...

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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....