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

A Tour (De Force) Through the Evidence Rules as Applied to Expert Testimony

James v. Ruiz, 440 N.J. Super. 45 (App. Div. 2015). This opinion by Judge Sabatino is like the law school evidence class that some of us wish we had taken....

FLSA Plaintiff Wins Under an Exception to an Exemption

McMaster v. Eastern Armored Services, Inc., 780 F.3d 167 (3d Cir. 2015). Plaintiff Ashley McMaster was a driver and/or guard (some days she drove, and other days she rode as a...

The Supreme Court Revisits the Constitutionality of the Redevelopment Law

62-64 Main Street, LLC v. Hackensack Mayor & Council, 221 N.J. 129 (2015). The Local Redevelopment and Housing Law, N.J.S.A. 40A:12A-1 to -73, defines when an area is blighted and...

The Appellate Division Discusses Three Rules of Evidence

Parker v. Poole, 440 N.J. Super. 7 (App. Div. 2015). Appellate decisions that explicate rules of evidence are not frequent. Today's opinion in this case, written by Judge Hoffman, is such...

Severance of and Discovery Regarding UIM and Bad Faith Claims

Wacker-Ciocco v. Gov't Employees Ins. Co., 439 N.J. Super. 603 (App. Div. 2015). In Procopio v. Gov't Employees Ins. Co., 433 N.J. Super. 377 (App. Div. 2013), discussed here, the...

A Supreme Court Opinion About Net Opinions

Townsend v. Pierre, 221 N.J. 36 (2015). In this opinion, issued yesterday, the Supreme Court reversed a ruling of the Appellate Division. The Appellate Division's decision was discussed here. The...

A "Case of First Impression": Who Bears the Cost of a Special School Election?

In re December 9, 2014 Special School Election, 439 N.J. Super. 416 (App. Div. 2015). The City of Cape May sought to withdraw from a limited purpose school district that...

No Constitutional Right to Encroach on State Property

State v. Cherry Hilll Mitsubishi, Inc., 439 N.J. Super. 462 (App. Div. 2015). The State brought a summary action against the defendant car dealers, alleging that those dealers had been encroaching on...

"Public Policy" Does Not Require That a Spouse be Deemed the Beneficiary of a Life Insurance Policy

Fox v. Lincoln Financial Group, 439 N.J. Super. 375 (App. Div. 2015). A man had a life insurance policy on which he designated his sister as beneficiary. He then married,...

Denial of Motion to Consolidate Cases = Abuse of Discretion

Moraes v. Wesler, 439 N.J. Super. 375 (App. Div. 2015). Plaintiff was injured in a car accident in November 2011, for which she filed suit in 2012. Then, in 2013, she...

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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."...