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

A Class Action Plaintiff Must be a Member of the Class That He or She Seeks to Represent

Rosen v. Continental Airlines, Inc., 430 N.J. Super. 97 (App. Div. 2013). The holding of this decision affirmed a defense motion to dismiss this putative class action case for failure to state a claim. Plaintiff had...

Mount Laurel's Ban on Billboards is Not Unconstitutional

Interstate Outdoor Advertising, L.P. v. Mt. Laurel Tp. Bd. of Adj., 706 F.3d 527 (3d Cir. 2013). The Township of Mount Laurel, best known for its role in a series of affordable...

Condemning Authority Need Not Negotiate With Party Other Than Record Title Holder

Borough of Merchantville v. Malik & Son, LLC, 429 N.J. Super. 116 (App. Div. 2013). In this condemnation case, one of the defendants, LB-RPR REO Holdings, LLC ("LB"), the assignee of a...

2010 Amendment to Statute of Frauds Can Apply to Palimony Agreements Made Prior to Amendment's Effective Date

Maeker v. Ross, 430 N.J. Super. 79 (App. Div. 2013). In 2010, the Legislature amended the Statute of Frauds, N.J.S.A. 25:1-5(h), to cover "palimony" agreements, that is, "[a] promise by one party to...

"Equity Will Find a Way"

Estate of Murray v. Spiegle, 429 N.J. Super. 378 (App. Div. 2013). Judge Fisher, who sat in the Chancery Division before being elevated to the Appellate Division, wrote this opinion for a unanimous...

Arbitrator's Decision That the State Must, Against Its Will, Pay Part of Camden Firefighters' Salaries, is Reversed

In re City of Camden and International Ass'n of Firefighters, Local 788, 429 N.J. Super. 309 (App. Div. 2013). For over ten years, the City of Camden has been in such dire...

Interpreting an Indemnification Clause Cannot "Make a Fortress Out of The Elements of Style"

Sayles v. G&G Hotels, Inc., 429 N.J. Super. 266 (App. Div. 2013). This case involved the interpretation of an indemnification clause. In his opinion for the panel, Judge Fisher unpacked a "complex" provision...

An Appellate Pro Bono Win

Mastropole v. Giunta, 2012 N.J. Super. LEXIS 86 (App. Div. Jan. 15, 2013). This is a contract case that my colleague Marissa L. Quigley and I handled under the Appellate Division's...

Another "Off-Premises Liability" Case

Nielsen v. Wal-Mart Store #2171, 429 N.J. Super. 251 (App. Div. 2013). Defendant Wal-Mart Store #2171 owned a unit in a multi-unit condominium development owned by another defendant. Plaintiff was an employee...

Intervention as of Right

Benjamin v. Pennsylvania Dep't of Public Welfare, 701 F.3d 938 (3d Cir. 2012). In this class action brought by persons with mental retardation who reside in intermediate care facilities operated by defendants,...

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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."...