A selection of the need-to-know civil justice news for the week of Oct. 11-17.
N.J.’s Consumer Protection Law Needs Reform
Tiger Joyce | New Jersey Law Journal
Like many states’ consumer protection laws, New Jersey’s well-intentioned Consumer Fraud Act (CFA) traces its origins to the 1960s. But since then, the CFA has been so distorted and contorted by legislative amendments and judicial interpretations that it is now just as likely to be used to boost trial lawyers’ bank accounts as it is to compensate truly defrauded consumers.
Alleged Sayreville Hazing Likely to Spawn Civil Suits
Mary Pat Gallagher | New Jersey Law Journal
Accusations that seven high-school football players from Sayreville, N.J., sexually assaulted younger teammates have already led to criminal charges and lawyers said civil suits are likely on the horizon.
Accessibility Claims Expected Over Websites
Angus Loten | Wall Street Journal
Businesses should brace for a new crop of so-called “accessibility” lawsuits alleging that their commercial websites fail to comply with federal disabled-access law, lawyers say.
Bruce D. Greenberg | New Jersey Appellate Law Blog
Some people have complaints about the Justices of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, though our Court in fact remains at or near the top of all state Supreme Courts in the United States. But to see a state Supreme Court that is truly an embarrassment, one need look no further than across the Delaware River, to Pennsylvania.
Sanctions Sought for Lawyer Who Gave Document to Media
Charles Toutant | New Jersey Law Journal
The lawyer representing Conrail, Norfolk Southern and CSX in connection with a 2012 train derailment and chemical spill in Paulsboro, N.J., is seeking sanctions and a protective order against a plaintiffs lawyer who allegedly defied a court order by releasing an investigative report to the media.
Woman Seeks Damages for Damage Caused by Woman
Kevin Underhill | Lowering the Bar
“I think I can safely say this is a very unusual claim,” said Shari Moore, the city clerk of St. Paul, Minnesota. Moore was talking about Megan Campbell’s claim against the city for damage to her car caused when a city vehicle crashed into it. Driving that city vehicle: Megan Campbell.
Supreme Court Weighs Generic Drug Dispute
Sam Hananel | Associated Press
The Supreme Court seems divided as it considers a high-stakes patent dispute between rival pharmaceutical companies over the world’s best-selling multiple sclerosis treatment.
Punkin Chunkin Canceled for This Year
James Fisher and Jon Offredo | The News Journal
Let go of the gourd. The Punkin Chunkin event has been canceled for this year… The event, held for years on a succession of rural Sussex County farm fields, was to have moved to the same grounds that host Firefly this year. After a volunteer filed a personal injury lawsuit in 2013 over an ATV accident at the 2011 Chunk, the farmer hosting it in Sussex County said he wouldn’t let it return to his property.
Parents May Be Liable for What Their Kids Post on Facebook, Court Rules
Jacob Gershman | Wall Street Journal
Parents can be held liable for what their kids post on Facebook, a Georgia appellate court ruled in a decision that lawyers said marked a legal precedent on the issue of parental responsibility over their children’s online activity.
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