On Monday, April 27, the New Jersey Supreme Court is holding oral arguments in an interesting medical malpractice case. The court’s ruling in this case will signal how serious the state is about stamping out fraud and corruption, and has the potential to dramatically impact malpractice insurance premiums.
A white paper recapping important legal developments in the civil justice movement that occurred in 2014 has been published by the Federalist Society. Part I of the paper focuses on broad trends, Part II provides an overview of new legislation, and Part III highlights court cases from across the country that either strike down previously adopted reforms or adopt novel legal theories of interest to reformers. The paper was authored by NJCJI’s Emily Kelchen.
Fiction, non-fiction, old, and new, there are many books that vividly illustrate the complexities of the civil justice system. In recognition of National Library Week, we took the opportunity to select a few books that we recommend checking out.
The admissibility of expert testimony is a hot topic in the New Jersey legal world right now. A report from the court’s Committee on the Rules of Evidence has confirmed that the case law does not match the court rules on the books, and the New Jersey Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Townsend v. Pierre only increases the differences.
Right now there are five common sense legal reform bills with bipartisan sponsorship under consideration in the legislature. Several of these bills have been languishing in committee for years without action. Meanwhile, all of us are shouldering the burden of New Jersey’s excessively expensive and inefficient tort liability system through higher prices, lower wages, decreased returns on investments in capital and land, restricted access to health care, and less innovation. It is time for the legislature get serious about legal reform so the citizens and businesses of this state can get some relief.
A selection of the need-to-know civil justice news for the week of March 7-13.
A selection of the need-to-know civil justice news for the week of Feb. 28-Mar. 6.
New Jersey’s court rule governing the admissibility and review of expert testimony has remained unchanged since 1991. In this same period the Federal Rules of Evidence, the Uniform Rules of Evidence, numerous state evidence rules, and our own case law have all changed to reflect the increased importance and use of expert testimony. At NJCJI’s urging, the NJ Supreme Court asked its Committee on the Rules of Evidence to take a closer look at the state’s laws governing this issue.
A selection of the need-to-know civil justice news for the week of Feb. 21-27.
On February 24, Gov. Christie delivered his budget address to a joint session of the legislature, officially kicking off negotiations on the state’s FY 2016 budget. The legislature’s focus for the next few months will essentially be on the budget, as it must be passed by July 1.
