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

New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority Must Reveal Financial Terms of Contracts for Perfomances at IZOD Center

Newark Morning Ledger Co. v. New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority, 423 N.J. Super. 140 (App. Div. 2011). The Newark Star-Ledger filed a request under the Open Public Records Act, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1...

The Bear Hunt is On

Animal Protection League of New Jersey v. New Jersey Dep't of Environmental Protection, 423 N.J. Super. 549 (App. Div. 2011). With the coming of this season often comes an effort by the...

The Appellate Division Denies a Stay Pending Appeal in DePascale

On November 18, an Appellate Division panel consisting of Judges Carchman, Fisher and Nugent denied the State's motion for a stay pending the appeal, now before the Supreme Court on...

Public Notice of Ordinance Rezoning Former General Motors Linden Plant is Held Insufficient

Rockaway Shoprite Associates, Inc. v. City of Linden, 424 N.J. Super. 337 (App. Div. 2011). For many years, a large General Motors assembly plant occupied a 47.5 acre site in...

"Legal Gymnastics" and "Undisclosed Legerdemain" Do Not Help the Defendant in a Consumer Fraud Case

Dugan v. TGI Friday's, 2011 WL 5041391 (App. Div. Oct. 25, 2011). Plaintiff bought a beer at the bar of a TGI Friday's restaurant and was charged $2.00. She then moved...

A "Tense" Decision

Santos-Reyes v. United States, 660 F.3d 196 (3d Cir. 2011). Under 8 U.S.C. §1229b(a), an alien who could otherwise be deported from the United States can have the deportation cancelled if the...

Sovereign Immunity, Though Not Raised Below, Wins the Day for the United States Government

Jacobson v. United States, 422 N.J. Super. 561 (App. Div. 2011). It is not often that the United States is a party in a state court case. This matter involved a claim...

Dismissal for Lack of Prosecution Averted, But Just Barely

Baskett v. Cheung, 422 N.J. Super. 377 (App. Div. 2011). The facts of this case, detailed in the opinion of Judge Harris for this appellate panel, were about as egregious as they come....

Calculating the Available Discovery Period

Jatczyszyn v. Marcal Paper Mills, Inc., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2011). The key issue in this case involves how to calculate the discovery period permitted by the Court Rules in a circumstance where...

Insurer Need Not Pay for Alleged "Diminution in Value" of Automobile After Accident and Full Repair, Where Insurance Policy Expressly Excluded Such Coverage

Kieffer v. High Point Ins. Co., 422 N.J. Super. 38 (App. Div. 2011). This matter involves three consolidated cases. In each, one or more insureds sued their auto insurer after their cars had been...

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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."...