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

CEPA and "Watchdog" Employees

Lippman v. Ethicon, Inc., 432 N.J. Super. 378 (App. Div. 2013). Today's opinion under the Conscientious Employee Protection Act, N.J.S.A. 34:19-1 to -8 ("CEPA"), written by Judge Fuentes, reversed a summary...

The Year's Longest Published Appellate Division Decision

Kaye v. Rosefielde, 432 N.J. Super. 421 (App. Div. 2013). This first post of the 2013-2014 Term focuses on the longest published decision issued by the Appellate Division in the just-ended 2012-2013...

Egg Creams and "Equitable Mootness"

In re Semcrude, L.P., 728 F.3d 314 (3d Cir. 2013). An egg cream is a fountain drink, associated primarily with New York City, whose ingredients include neither egg nor cream....

Extent of Foster Child's Bonding With Foster Family May be Relevant to Relatives' Application for Custody

New Jersey Division of Child Protection & Permanency v. C.S., 432 N.J. Super. 224 (App. Div. 2013). As Judge Fisher noted in today's opinion, in the context of children who...

Party Who Litigated for 21 Months Waived Right to Compel Arbitration

Cole v. Jersey City Medical Center, 215 N.J. 165 (2013). In Cole v. Jersey City Medical Center, 425 N.J. Super. 48 (App. Div. 2012), discussed here, the Appellate Division ruled that defendant,...

"Intertwinement of Issues" Cannot Compel Non-Party to Arbitration Agreement to Arbitrate Claims

Hirsch v. Amper Financial Services, LLC, 215 N.J. 174 (2013). Arbitration is a matter of contract. The issue in this case was whether non-parties to an arbitration agreement could be compelled to...

Railroad Can Take Private Property if "Not Incompatible With the Public Interest" and as "The Exigencies of Business May Demand"

Norfolk Southern Railway Co. v. Intermodal Properties, LLC, 210 N.J. 261 (2013). New Jersey law allows railroads and public utilities to take private property by eminent domain. N.J.S.A. 48:3-17.7 requires that any such taking...

Potential Drainage Issues Do Not Defeat Right to a Variance for Frontage

Ten Stary Dom Partnership v. Mauro, 216 N.J. 16 (2013). Less than two weeks after issuing an opinion about conditional use variances, the Supreme Court today turned to bulk variances...

Statute of Repose Does Not Save Claims Barred by Statute of Limitations

Cumberland Cty. Bd. of Freeholders v. Vitetta Group, P.C., 431 N.J. Super. 596 (App. Div. 2013). Most cases involving the construction statute of repose, N.J.S.A. 2A:14-1.1, involve how to determine when the...

The Consumer Fraud Act in Condominium Construction Defect Litigation

Belmont Condominium Ass'n, Inc. v. Geibel, 432 N.J. Super. 52 (App. Div. 2013). This case resulted in another magnum opus by Judge Parrillo. Plaintiff sued over defective construction of a...

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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."...