A selection of the need-to-know civil justice news for the week of June 14-20.
Christie’s Lawyers Unveil Legal Strategy for Pension Court Battle
Salvador Rizzo | The Star-Ledger
Lawyers for Gov. Chris Christie today unveiled their defense strategy for taking $2.4 billion meant for public workers’ pensions, pushing back against a flood of lawsuits from unions and financial managers challenging the plan.
Good Cop, Bad Cop: How Infighting Is Costing New Jersey Taxpayers
Sally Herships | WNYC
New Jersey taxpayers are footing the bill for millions of dollars worth of legal costs and settlements for lawsuits against local police officers, police departments and towns. The majority of those cases are legal spats between individual officers or officers and departments, not civilian suits.
Walter Olson | Overlawyered
Sanctions have a role to play in managing litigation, and are probably under-used in the American courtroom, but this would seem to go too far. Saudi Arabia: “The Ministry of Justice plans to introduce tough new legislation to penalize malicious litigants, which would include fines, prison and lashes.”
Biz Groups Tell NJ Justices Whistleblower Ruling Too Broad
Martin Bricketto | Law360
More New Jersey business groups have stepped forward to urge the state Supreme Court to upend an appellate decision that they contend improperly broadens the state’s whistleblower law by allowing watchdog employees to sue based on their regular job duties.
When Brooklyn Juries Gentrify, Defendants Lose
Josh Saul | New York Post
Brooklyn’s courthouses are being rocked by the “Williamsburg Effect.”
The influx of well-off and educated white people to trendy neighborhoods such as Williamsburg is rapidly “gentrifying’’ the borough’s jury pool — and transforming verdicts, lawyers and judges told The Post.
It’s good news for prosecutors in criminal cases — and bad news for plaintiffs in civil lawsuits, they said.
GM Hit With $10 Billion Lawsuit
Jessica Dye and Jonathan Stempel | Reuters
A new lawsuit says General Motors Co should compensate millions of car and truck owners for lost resale value, potentially exceeding $10 billion, because a slew of recalls and a deadly delay in recalling cars with defective ignition switches has damaged its brand.
Paraplegic Suing Doctor for Shortening Penis by an Inch
David K. Li | New York Post
A Canadian paraplegic who fracture ed his penis is suing doctors over a botched diagnosis that allegedly left his manhood one inch shorter and ruined the man’s marriage.
NJ Senate Confirms Rabner, Solomon for State’s Highest Court
Salvador Rizzo | The Star-Ledger
Chief Justice Stuart Rabner won a tenured term on the New Jersey Supreme Court today by a 29-6 vote in the state Senate.
With Senate confirmation, Rabner, 53, is set to become the longest-serving chief justice in the history of the modern Supreme Court if he stays on the bench until the mandatory retirement age of 70.
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