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

Deprivation of Deferred Retirement Benefits Due to Conviction of Crime May Occur Only When Offense Relates to Official Duties

In re Hess, 422 N.J. Super. 27 (App. Div. 2011). Suzanne Hess was employed as a Geographic Information Specialist by the New Jersey Office of Information Technology. She filed an application for a...

League of Municipalities is Subject to Open Public Records Act

Fair Share Housing Center, Inc. v. New Jersey State League of Municipalities, 207 N.J. 489 (2011). The New Jersey State League of Municipalities ("the League") is an entity created under N.J.S.A. 40:48-22...

No Constitutional Right to Appeal Undocketed Grievance Against Attorney

O'Boyle v. District I Ethics Committee, 421 N.J. Super. 457 (App. Div. 2011). Judge Axelrad's opinion in this case begins as follows: "Rule 1:20-3(h) provides that in cases where a grievance that was...

Independent of AT&T v. Concepcion, Arbitration Clauses in Consumer Contract Are Ineffective If They Conflict With Each Other

NAACP of Camden County East v. Foulke Management Corp., 421 N.J. Super. 404 (App. Div. 2011). This consumer class action was the occasion for another typically scholarly opinion by Judge Sabatino. Geraldine...

When May a Plaintiff Proceed Anonymously?

Doe v. Megless, ___ F.3d ___ (3d Cir. 2011). Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 10(a) requires that the title of a complaint "name all the parties." Despite that, in exceptional circumstances, courts...

State Employee Who Chose to Schedule "Furlough Days" Consecutively Cannot Collect Unemployment Compensation for Those Days

Futterman v. Board of Review, 421 N.J. Super. 281 (App. Div. 2011). This case arose out of the 2009 agreement between the Christie administration and the union that represents state...

City/State Location of Calls to/from Public Employees' Government-Provided Cellphones are Not Private

Livecchia v. Borough of Mount Arlington, 421 N.J. Super. 24 (App. Div. 2011). North Jersey Newspapers Co. v. Passaic Cty. Bd. of Freeholders, 127 N.J. 9 (1992), held that "the people...

No Duty to Inspect Delivery Truck for Teenagers Sitting on Back of Truck, Taking a Ride, and Getting Injured by Falling Off

Badalamenti v. Simkiss, 422 N.J. Super. 86 (App. Div. 2011). Advocates of "tort reform" like to complain that New Jersey courts will allow anyone to proceed, or even to recover,...

Dubious Legislation

On June 20, Assemblymen Gary Chiusano (R-24th Dist.) and John Wisniewski (D-19th Dist.) introduced Assembly Bill 4135. That legislation would make appealable to the Appellate Division as of right, instead of on an...

Improper Remarks in Trial Summation Warranted New Trial on Damages Only

Risko v. Thompson Muller Automotive Group, Inc., 206 N.J. 506 (2011). This case came to the Supreme Court because of improper remarks made by plaintiff's counsel in his trial summation....

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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."...