NJCJI President Marcus Rayner has a letter to the editor in the Asbury Park Press this week responding to their recent article about the DWI detainee who got the green light to sue the cops for injuries sustained because she was too drunk to sit in a chair without falling out of it.
The New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act is a very convoluted law that regulates virtually everything bought and sold in the state of New Jersey. It is also the genesis of hundreds of lawsuits. One CFA lawsuit we’ve been closely following is Josh Finkelman’s battle against the NFL over the price of Super Bowl tickets (the case even made our CFA Hall of Shame).
New Jersey has a lot of things going for it. If you check out Choose New Jersey’s promotional materials touting our strengths you will see that we are “highly educated, perfectly located.” Unfortunately, those are not the only characteristics a state needs in order to see its economy thrive.
Countless jokes have been made since Sergio Bichao broke the news that a local couple is taking legal action against their former employer because they allege the husband was fired for passing too much gas, but this is far from a laughing matter. This is the perfect example of what can happen when laws that are drafted with the best of intentions in mind are taken just a little too far.
A selection of the need-to-know civil justice news for the week of September 26-October 2.
Unlike the U.S. Supreme Court, the New Jersey Supreme Court has no set schedule dictating when opinions are likely to be released. (For example, NJCJI is still waiting for an opinion in the DeMarco v. Stoddard case, which was heard in April.) This week a couple of interesting civil decisions were released.
Bill Spadea, the host of the Chasing News TV program and frequent guest host on NJ 101.5, wants to know what New Jersians think about frivolous litigation and the potential to curb it by instituting a loser pays system. Let him know what you think by tweeting @nj1015 and @BillSpadea.
Since January 1, businesses in New Jersey have had the opportunity to opt in to a new complex commercial litigation program in disputes where the damages are projected to exceed $200,000. New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner will provide an update on the complex commercial litigation program, and discuss the need for lawyers with such backgrounds to seek appointments to the bench at a free event hosted by the New Jersey State Bar Association on Tuesday, October 20.
A lot of ridiculous lawsuits are filed in New Jersey each year, but only one can be crowned NJCJI’s Most Ludicrous Lawsuit of the Year. 2014’s honoree, the woman suing Disney for $250 million because she claims the blockbuster hit Frozen was stolen from her self-published autobiography, has finally been told she needs to take Queen Elsa’s advice and “let it go.”
“It's like déjà vu all over again.” This famous Yogism is the first thing that came to mind when we saw the latest news story about a hot coffee lawsuit. Ever since the famous case where a jury awarded a coffee burn victim $2.86 million these cases just keep popping up.
