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New Jersey
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May 17, 2013
NJ Judiciary To Expand E-Filing To Appellate Division
The New Jersey Superior Court’s Appellate Division on Thursday announced plans to allow criminal and civil appeals to be filed electronically, as the state continues to experiment with e-filing options that could eventually become mandatory across the state.
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May 17, 2013
PokerStars' Bid To Buy Casino Sinks In NJ Court
A New Jersey judge on Friday ended PokerStars’ campaign to buy an Atlantic City casino, refusing to cement a temporary injunction preventing the casino’s owners from terminating the deal and declining to invalidate a contract written with terms unlike any the judge said he’d ever seen.
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May 17, 2013
NJ Unveils Internet Gambling Regulations
New Jersey on Friday issued regulations to allow New Jersey gambling enthusiasts to place bets over the Internet, which advocates hope will generate more revenue and jobs for the gaming industry in Atlantic City.
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May 17, 2013
NYC Ferry Owner Hit With Injury Claims Over January Crash
The owner of a high-speed commuter ferry that crashed in January while docking near Wall Street in lower Manhattan has been hit with 45 claims from passengers and commuters seeking more than $75 million in damages in New Jersey federal court.
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May 17, 2013
NJ Sports Authority OKs Amusement Park Plans
The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority on Friday gave key approvals for developer Triple Five Group Ltd.'s $3 billion American Dream amusement park project, though the action could reignite legal efforts by the New York Jets LLC and New York Football Giants Inc. to block the plans.
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May 17, 2013
Herrick Accused Of Tacking High Fees Onto Debt Notices
Herrick Feinstein LLP was hit with a putative class action Thursday in New Jersey federal court alleging it deceptively added unauthorized attorneys’ fees to debts it collected from consumers on behalf of a homeowners association, in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
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May 17, 2013
NJ Firm Says BofA Owes $5M For Fraudulent Wire Transfer
Borenstein McConnell & Calpin PC wants Bank of America Corp. to pay more than $5 million for processing a $264,000 wire transfer from Borenstein's attorney trust account despite Bank of America's alleged knowledge that the transaction was fraudulent, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in New Jersey federal court.
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May 17, 2013
3rd Circ. Resurrects $180M Oil Spill Suit Against Citgo
The Third Circuit on Thursday revived an $180 million oil spill liability suit against Citgo Petroleum Corp., ruling that the company was responsible for ensuring that a Philadelphia-area port it operated was free from hazards like the abandoned ship anchor that caused the accident.
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May 16, 2013
J&J To Stop Selling Metal Hips, Facing Thousands Of Suits
Johnson & Johnson subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. announced on Thursday that it will stop selling its controversial metal-on-metal replacement hips, following the filing of more than 10,000 lawsuits nationwide over a related product line and fierce scrutiny by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
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May 16, 2013
NJ Bill Could Shake Up Contractor Model For Port Trucking
A bill up for a vote Monday in the New Jersey Assembly to establish a presumption that port and parcel delivery truck drivers are employees and not contractors would effectively kill the use of independent owner-operators in those industries while exposing motor carriers to more costs and legal actions, opponents contend.
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May 16, 2013
Ex-Commerce Bank Director Tells Jury He Sped CEO's Ouster
A former director of Commerce Bancorp said in New Jersey federal court on Thursday that his refusal to sign a settlement with federal regulators over real estate deals hastened the ouster of Commerce founder Vernon W. Hill II, as a jury mulls awarding Hill a $17.2 million severance payment.
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May 16, 2013
3rd Circ. Adds Fuel To Obama Recess Appointments Fight
The Third Circuit's ruling Thursday invalidating President Barack Obama's recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board will make it far harder for the labor board to peg the D.C. Circuit's similar Noel Canning ruling as a mere outlier, raising the stakes in a battle attorneys expect to end only when the Supreme Court weighs in.
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May 16, 2013
NJ Panel Floats Pro Bono Requirement For New Attys
Applicants to the New Jersey state bar will have to complete 50 hours of pro bono work in order to be admitted if the state Supreme Court adopts the recommendations of a judicial panel, a court official said Thursday.
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May 16, 2013
Christie Unveils $300M Plan To Buy Homes Hit By Sandy
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday unveiled a $300 million buyout program that will use federal funding to purchase 1,300 homes that were devastated by Hurricane Sandy or lie in the flood-prone Passaic River basin from willing homeowners, creating open spaces that can ease future flood damage.
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May 16, 2013
NJ Assembly To Vote On Revised Social Media Privacy Bill
New Jersey lawmakers are moving forward with a measure that Gov. Chris Christie conditionally vetoed earlier this month that aims to prohibit employers from requiring current or prospective employees to disclose their login information for social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
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May 16, 2013
Court Defends Secretive Arbitrations To 3rd. Circ.
An attorney defending the constitutionality of the Delaware Chancery Court's confidential arbitration program told a Third Circuit panel Thursday that the involvement of judges as arbitrators didn't violate the First Amendment since related proceedings have a long history of being closed to the public.
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May 16, 2013
Deals Rumor Mill: Marine Harvest, Actavis, Elliott Management
Marine Harvest could ratchet up its bid for rival fish farmer Cermaq past the current $1.7 billion mark if the target company agrees to make certain concessions in the deal, while activist hedge fund Elliott Management continues on its tear this proxy season with new plans to shake up yet another company.
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May 16, 2013
3rd Circ. Finds NLRB Recess Appointment Of Becker Invalid
Agreeing with the D.C. Circuit that recess appointments can be made only during the intersession break between Senate sessions, the Third Circuit ruled Thursday that the president's intrasession recess appointment of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board was invalid, putting the validity of even more labor board decisions into doubt.
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May 15, 2013
Commerce Bank Alumnus Says CEO Involved In Probed Deals
A TD Bank NA executive on Wednesday told a New Jersey federal jury that his former boss, Commerce Bancorp founder Vernon W. Hill II, was directly involved in deals that attracted regulatory scrutiny and led to his ouster, as the jury considers awarding Hill a $17.2 million severance.
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May 15, 2013
NJ Atty Sues Newbies Over Breach Of Training Pact
A New Jersey attorney is suing two alleged former proteges for more than $200,000, claiming they learned about immigration law and her business as part of a consulting and training agreement but failed to live up to their financial obligations under the pact.
Expert Analysis
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Rise Of The Machines — Predictive Coding Goes Mainstream
The pros of using predictive coding far outweigh the cons. Given the heavy pressure on law firms and in-house counsel to reduce discovery costs, as well as the Justice Department's recent stance on the subject, it appears predictive coding will continue to emerge from the obscure world of legal technology to the mainstream of legal practice, say Michael Moscato and Myles Bartley of Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle LLP.
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Past Its Prime: Weedo V. Stone-E-Brick
It is time for the New Jersey Supreme Court to take up again the construction-defect coverage issues first addressed in Weedo v. Stone-E-Brick Inc. and to update them for the post-1986 commercial general liability coverage of subcontractors’ faulty workmanship, says Carl Salisbury of Kilpatrick Townsend Stockton LLP.
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Calif. Chemical Safety Rules Push Constitutional Envelope
Impatience with the pace of Toxic Substances Control Act reform at the federal level is understandable, but substituting individual state action for a perceived lack of federal action may be the classic example of a cure which is worse than the disease. Many think California’s Safer Consumer Product Regulations now prove that, says Ward Benshoof of Alston & Bird LLP.
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Circuit Split On Market Share-Based Discounts Remains
The U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to review ZF Meritor LLC v. Eaton Transmission Corporation means that the Third Circuit’s less permissive view of dominant firm pricing conduct remains intact for now, and suggests that Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware federal courts will likely be the preferred venues for challenges to such conduct, says Eric Berman of Williams Mullen.
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How McBurney V. Young Will Impact State FOIAs
In McBurney v. Young, the U.S. Supreme Court has permitted the still-uncommon practice of state legislatures to restrict use of their freedom of information laws to citizens of the states. But states should not race to adopt citizens-only provisions in their freedom of information laws, say John Borger and Leita Walker of Faegre Baker Daniels LLP.
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E-Commerce Taxation Bill Might Be Unconstitutional
Recent decisions from the federal courts suggest that the constitutionality of the proposed Marketplace Fairness Act, which would permit states to require out-of-state businesses to collect and remit sales taxes on goods sold over the Internet, is open to serious debate, says Michael Abate of Dinsmore & Shohl LLP.
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Applying Absolute Priority Rule — Broad Vs. Narrow Views
Due to conflicting interpretations of Bankruptcy Code Section 1129, debtors in most jurisdictions currently lack a firm grasp on whether the court handling their cases will find that the absolute priority rule has been completely abrogated, or whether it still applies to an individual debtor's prepetition property. To further compound this uncertainly, some bankruptcy courts in the same district have ruled inconsistently on the issue, say Mikel Bistrow and Jennifer Pinder of Foley & Lardner LLP.
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It’s My Expert, And I’ll Call Her If I Want To
The recent decision in Washington v. Perez is a useful reminder that defense counsel must remain mindful during opening statement and cross-examination that it may later decide not to call certain experts. Fortunately, this decision clarifies that New Jersey appellate courts recognize that the defense is entitled to change strategy as the case progresses, says Adam Tolin of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP.
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Don't Let Your Plaintiff Get Away In CEPA Cases
New Jersey's Conscientious Employee Protection Act is a powerful anti-retaliation statute, providing an array of significant remedies to an aggrieved party. However, as taken from Hitesman v. Bridgeway Inc., with great power comes great responsibility, including the important gatekeeping functions of trial courts in cases brought under the act, says Lawrence Del Rossi of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP.
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3 Ways To Leverage Internet Access During Trial
A survey of local rules for courthouses with available Wi-Fi has shown that no courts expressly prohibit the use of Internet by lawyers to gain information about the venire. Interestingly, at least one appellate court has held that it was error not to allow counsel to access the Internet during jury selection, say Derek Sarafa and William O'Neil of Winston & Strawn LLP.