Attorney’s Fee Award Denied By Federal Court on Basis of Being Outrageously Excessive
Plaintiff Bernie Clemens was awarded $100,000 in punitive damages under the Pennsylvania Bad Faith Statute in a federal jury trial. He then submitted a petition to the District Court judge for over $900,000 in attorney’s fees from the defendant New York Central Mutual Fire Insurance C...
Third Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Excessive Force Claim Because Plaintiff Cannot Identify Police Officer Who Kicked Him
By: Benjamin H. Zieman, Esq. Two police officers from the Riverdale Police Department and three troopers from the New Jersey State Police encountered Plaintiff Emil Jutrowski, who was heavily intoxicated, after he crashed his vehicle along the shoulder of a highway and sustained in...
DOT Found Not Liable for Plaintiff’s Injuries When Plaintiff Struck by Car as Crossing Highway to Reach DOT Unimproved Parking Lot Across From American Legion
By: Betsy G. Ramos, Esq. Plaintiff Daniel Mattos and his wife, Cary Mattos, parked their car on the DOT property to attend a St. Patrick's Day event held at the American Legion, which was located across Route 206 in Frankford Township. Cary was struck and killed by a car driven by...
Key Supreme Court Decision on Arbitration is Not Likely to Affect State Workers’ Compensation Laws
By: John W. Pszwaro, Esq. In the recent decision of Epic Systems v. Lewis, 138 US 1612 (2018), the Supreme Court affirmed a preference for arbitration, ruling that agreements between employers and employees requiring individual arbitration are enforceable in employment contracts, e...
Parking Authority’s Operation of a Fee Based Jitney Service Did not Deprive it from Asserting Public Entity Snow Removal Immunity
By: Betsy G. Ramos, Esq. Plaintiff Mildred Molino was walking in the Township of South Orange when she fell on an icy sidewalk adjacent to a municipal parking lot. The lot was owned by the Township and operated by the South Orange Parking Authority (“SOPA”). The issue in Molino v....
Can a Plaintiff Recover for Injuries Due to a Fall in a Pothole on a Public Roadway?
By: Betsy G. Ramos, Esq. Potholes are a fact of life in New Jersey. They can pop up almost overnight, which makes it difficult for a plaintiff to be able to pursue a claim for a personal injury against a public entity due to an injury suffered from stepping in a pothole. Typically,...
Township Found Not Liable for Injury Caused by Fall in Pothole
By: Betsy G. Ramos, Esq. Plaintiff Anthony Scafidi (“Scafidi”) was injured due to a fall in a pothole in the road alongside the sidewalk on Stuyvesant Avenue in Lyndhurst, New Jersey. He sued the Township, claiming that the pothole constituted a dangerous condition of public proper...
Police Officer Who Could Not Drive Failed In His Disability Discrimination Suit
Jeremy Christensen worked as a patrol officer for the Warner Robins Police Department in the State of Georgia. He completed a required 12-week certification training program. However, he experienced shooting pains and leg cramps while driving on September 2, 2013. Nonetheless, he fi...
Borough’s Alleged Premature Enforcement of a CO Ordinance Does Not Constitute a Substantive Due Process Violation
By: Voris M. Tejada, Jr., Esq. In Reed v. Scheffler, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 71032 (D.N.J. April 27, 2018), Plaintiff sued the Borough of Palmyra (the “Borough”) and its Housing Official alleging, inter alia, violations of substantive due process as a result of the enforcement of cer...
Rules Regarding Future Payments Under Permanency Awards and Commutations
New Jersey adjusters sometimes ask why future benefits under an order approving settlement with a percentage of disability cannot be paid in a lump sum to the injured worker. In other words, why is there a requirement that future payments be paid out over a period of many weeks or ev...
Audience Quiz: Two New Jersey Comp Brain Teasers
Today’s blog contains two interesting workers’ compensation quizzes, which were asked at the April 19, 2018 Millennium Seminar in Mt. Laurel, N.J. We invite readers to email responses. Next week the winning answers will be announced. Question One: Jane Friedman is a CPA for Best Acc...
Appellate Division Rejects Reopener of High Percentage Award
New Jersey employers like reopener claims about as much as homeowners like back-to-back blizzards. The general view is that employers have virtually no defenses and have to pay more with each reopener. The truth is that employers can win reopener cases where the petitioner’s expert c...
GEANEY’S NEW JERSEY WORKERS’ COMPENSATION MANUAL
John H. Geaney, Esq. publishes a yearly manual aimed on providing practitioners, adjusters and employers with key information on Workers’ Compensation in the State of New Jersey.