New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division
The New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division is the appellate court in New Jersey. The Appellate Division hears appeals from the Law and Chancery Divisions of the New Jersey Superior Court, the Tax Court, and final decisions of State administrative agencies. The Appellate Division decides approximately 7,000 appeals and 7,500 motions each year.
Organization
The Appellate Division is divided into eight "parts" (designated "A" through "H") of four or five judges each. Judges are rotated among the parts on an annual basis. Unlike the federal and some other state appellate courts, appeals are not allocated among the parts on a territorial basis and Appellate Division precedent is equally binding state-wide.
The Appellate Division consists of 35 judges in total. One of the judges on each part is designated as the presiding judge and there is an overall presiding judge for administration. Appeals are decided by a panel of two or three judges from the part to which the appeal is assigned. If the New Jersey Supreme Court has less than five members available to hear a case, either because of vacancies or recusals, senior Appellate Division judges may be assigned to serve temporarily.[1]
The Appellate Division has a central clerk's office that processes the filing of notices of appeal, briefs, motions and other papers. The chambers of the Appellate Division judges are located in Atlantic City, Hackensack, Jersey City, Morristown, New Brunswick, Springfield, Trenton, West Long Branch, and Westmont. Arguments are heard in courtrooms located in Atlantic City, Elizabeth, Hackensack, Morristown, Newark, and Trenton.
Pre-appeal procedure
The Court has two programs which are designed to dispose of appeals without the need for a full appellate hearing.
Civil Appeals Settlement Program
For appeals of civil cases, the Civil Appeals Settlement Program is designed to identify appeals which could possibly be settled, at the initial phase of processing. Alternatively, appeals with very complex issues may be selected for a pre-argument conference, in order to delineate and clarify those issues prior to briefing.
Settlement Calendars
For appeals of criminal cases, Sentencing Calendars were initially designed to dispose of those appeals in which the sole issue on appeal was the excessiveness of the sentence imposed. The program has been expanded to include additional sentencing issues. Because of the narrow issues being addressed, appeals considered in this program are argued without the need for full briefing.
References
State intermediate appellate courts in the United States | ||
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Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming do not have intermediate appellate courts. | ||