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

An Unusual Power of the Governor

In re Veto of Minutes of New Jersey Racing Comm'n, 429 N.J. Super. 277 (App. Div. 2012). This case, in which Judge Messano wrote the Appellate Division's opinion, involved an unusual statutory...

OPRA Requests Must Seek "Records," Not "Information"

Burke v. Brandes, 429 N.J. Super. 169 (App. Div. 2012). This opinion, by Judge Parrillo, addresses an Open Public Records Act ("OPRA") request made to the Office of the Governor for government records regarding...

Damage Claims Against Port Authority Barred Because Plaintiff Had Not Given Pre-Suit Notice

Santiago v. New York & New Jersey Port Authority, 429 N.J. Super. 150 (App. Div. 2012). N.J.S.A. 32:1-163 states that "in the case of any suit, action or proceeding for the recovery...

Draft Agency Report is Absolutely Protected From Disclosure Under Open Public Records Act; Government Records Council May Not Decide Common Law Right of Access Claims

Ciesla v. New Jersey Dep't of Health & Senior Services, 429 N.J. Super. 127 (App. Div. 2012). This was an appeal of a decision of the Government Records Council ("GRC"), the state...

Party That Filed Multiple Motions in Court Waived Arbitration Clause

Bellevue Drug Co. v. Caremark SPCS, 700 F.3d 109 (3d Cir. 2012). This was an antitrust class action. Plaintiffs, who are retail pharmacy businesses, and defendant, who is a prescription benefits manager for...

Standing is Not Jurisdictional in New Jersey State Court

Deutsche Bank Nat'l Trust Co. v. Russo, 429 N.J. Super. 91 (App. Div. 2012). This was another mortgage foreclosure case in which defendants belatedly asserted that plaintiff lacked standing because plaintiff was...

City Not Liable for Partial Demolition of Burning Building Where Necessary to Fight the Fire

Crystal Ice-Bridgeton, LLC v. City of Bridgeton, 428 N.J. Super. 576 (App. Div. 2012). Plaintiff's building caught fire. Bridgeton firefighters responded and were at the site for nine hours. While the fire...

Where a Shopping Center Lease Requires the Landlord to Maintain the Parking Lot, a Tenant is Normally Not Liable to a Patron Injured in That Lot

Kandrac v. Marrazzo's Market at Robbinsiville, 429 N.J. Super. 79 (App. Div. 2012). "[A]s a general rule, when a commercial tenant in a multi-tenant shopping center has no control or contractual obligation...

Department of Education Cap on School Superintendent Salary is Valid

New Jersey Ass'n of School Administrators v. Cerf, 428 N.J. Super. 588 (App. Div. 2012). To help reduce property taxes by limiting school district spending, the Department of Education approved, by rule,...

"Egregious Fault" by Spouse May Bar Any Award of Alimony

Clark v. Clark, 429 N.J. Super. 61 (App. Div. 2012). Generally, "marital fault is irrelevant" to a determination of alimony. However, in Mani v. Mani, 183 N.J. 70 (2005), the Supreme Court recognized...

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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."...