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

Relaxed Standard of Coventry Square, Not Stricter Standard of Medici, Applies to Proof of Negative Criteria for Conditonal Use Variances

TSI East Brunswick, LLC v. East Brunswick Bd. of Adj., 215 N.J. 26 (2013). The Municipal Land Use Law ("MLUL"), N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70(d)(3), authorizes applications for conditional use variances. A conditional use is...

"Appearance of Impropriety" Standard Continues to Apply to Quasi-Judicial Municipal Bodies

Kane Properties, LLC v. City of Hoboken, 214 N.J. 199 (2013). This opinion by Justice Hoens affirms, as modified, the decision of the Appellate Division in this municipal land use matter, reported at...

Use Variance Applicant Need Not Show That Subject Property is the Only Available Site for the Use

Price v. Himeji, LLC, 214 N.J. 263 (2013). Himeji, LLC applied to the Union City Board of Adjustment for a use variance, density, height, and other variances, and a waiver necessary for the construction of a...

More About Notice Under the Municipal Land Use Law

Northgate Condominium Ass'n, Inc. v. Hillsdale Planning Bd., 214 N.J. 120 (2013). Opponents of land use development applications sometimes contest the adequacy of the notice given by development applicants, as occurred in...

Grammar and the Municipal Land Use Law

Mahwah Realty Associates, Inc. v. Mahwah Tp., 430 N.J. Super. 247 (App. Div. 2013). This case, in which plaintiffs sought to block development of a health club, has been back and forth to the...

Non-Conforming Structure That is More Than "Partially" Destroyed Cannot be Rebuilt Without a Variance

Motley v. Seaside Park Bd. of Adj., 430 N.J. Super. 132 (App. Div. 2013). N.J.S.A. 40:55D-68 allows a non-conforming use or structure to be "restored or repaired in the event of partial...

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...

The Prerogative Writ of Mandamus

Mullen v. The Ippolito Corporation, 428 N.J. Super. 85 (App. Div. 2012). An action in lieu of prerogative writs can be used where, at common law, one of the designated...

No Surprise: Supreme Court Grants Review of In re Plan for the Abolition of the Council on Affordable Housing

In In re Plan for the Abolition of the Council on Affordable Housing, 424 N.J. Super. 410 (App. Div. 2012), the Appellate Division held that Governor Christie could not unilaterally...

"The Song Remains the Same": There's No Automatic Right to Appeal an Interlocutory Order, and Improper Appeals Will be Dismissed

House of Fire Christian Church v. Clifton Bd. of Adj., 426 N.J. Super. 157 (App. Div. 2012). The Appellate Division has repeatedly admonished parties, attorneys, and trial level judges that it is improper to...

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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."...