The New Jersey Law Journal is currently conducting an anonymous survey assessing the legal community’s opinion of our state’s trial judges. This is one of the only opportunities New Jersey litigants have to make their true opinions about specific Superior Court judges known, so we encourage all of our members to take the survey before it closes on September 4.
The judicial system was not designed with business regulation in mind. Nevertheless, over the past few years New Jersey businesses have faced an increasing number of regulatory-based lawsuits, many of them quite frivolous in nature. These lawsuits are not being brought by the government, but by private attorneys empowered to enforce obscure business regulations on the government’s behalf.
A selection of the need-to-know civil justice news for the week of August 15-21.
A number of New Jersey’s state regulatory provisions specify statutory penalties for violations. Having a defined penalty enhances predictability and reduces inconsistent application of the law. When the statutes provide for enforcement actions by individual consumers, the statutory penalty model has the potential to provide the individual with a straightforward means of redress, often without need to even hire an attorney. Attorneys are getting involved though, and it is leading us toward a system where businesses are being regulated one jury at a time.
There are a number of upcoming events of interest to the legal reform community.
Sen. Robert Singer (R-Lakewood) has introduced a bill that would allow plaintiffs suffering from mesothelioma and their family members to file personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits at any time after the disease is diagnosed. If this bill is passed, it would make New Jersey a magnet for asbestos litigation.
A selection of the need-to-know civil justice news for the week of August 8-14.
On August 11, the Appellate Division issued an important ruling in the ongoing litigation over Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.’s acne medication Accutane. The decision by appellate judges Sabatino, Simonelli, and Leone overturns a $25 million+ verdict from a 2010 jury trial, and brings to a close a case that has been bogging down the court system for over a decade. It also sends a clear message that some choice of law questions are no longer open for debate.
This morning the Appellate Division issued an important ruling in the ongoing litigation over Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.’s acne medication Accutane. The ruling brings to a close a case that has been bogging down the court system for over a decade, and sends a clear message that some choice of law questions are no longer open for debate.
A selection of the need-to-know civil justice news for the week of August 1-7.
