New Jersey

Family says prominent lawyer was murdered, and did not kill his wife

John Sheridan Jr. was a prominent lawyer in New Jersey, with a son who is also a lawyer and a brother who is a federal judge. So when authorities concluded that the former state transportation commissioner, prosecutor, lobbyist and hospital administrator had stabbed his 69-year-old wife to death at their…

Feb 9, 2016 1:05 PM CST

Lawyer is accused of fondling undercover detective

Updated: A lawyer in Raritan, New Jersey, was accused of fondling an undercover detective investigating a complaint that he was offering reduced legal fees in exchange for sexual favors. The lawyer, 58-year-old Richard Schubach, was charged with three counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact, report NJ.com, MyCentralJersey.com and the Bridgewater…

Feb 2, 2016 10:14 AM CST

New York Jets will pay cheerleaders $324K to settle wage lawsuit

The New York Jets will pay $324,000 to 52 current and former cheerleaders to settle a wage lawsuit. The cheerleaders will receive amounts ranging from about $2,500 to $5,900, report NorthJersey.com and the New York Daily News. The 2014 suit, filed in New Jersey state court, had alleged the cheerleaders…

Jan 27, 2016 1:52 PM CST

Educating jurors on eyewitness reliability may backfire, study suggests

Jurors in New Jersey may be getting the wrong lesson about eyewitness testimony, NPR reported Tuesday. The state has new jury instructions for considering eyewitness testimony, NPR says—and it may be making them skeptical of all eyewitness testimony, even if it’s fairly reliable. The new instructions come from a 2011…

Jan 27, 2016 6:45 AM CST

Lawyer turns down no-prison plea deal, goes on trial in attempted murder case

After turning down a plea deal that likely would have resulted in a sentence of probation, a New Jersey lawyer went on trial Wednesday in an attempted murder case. Todd Gorman is accused of attacking his girlfriend, Stephanie Schwartz, in 2011 at the couple’s home. Not quite a year later,…

Jan 20, 2016 3:15 PM CST

Woman is sued for writing ‘bum’ and ‘loser’ on memo line of alimony checks to her ex-husband

A lawsuit filed last Thursday claims a New Jersey man suffered emotional distress when his ex-wife wrote notations such as “bum” and “loser” on the memo line of her alimony checks. Francis Wagner Jr. claims the name-calling worsened his health conditions, including cancer and a bad heart, the Daily Record…

Dec 22, 2015 9:00 AM CST

Judge allows defamation claim against lawyer who admitted drinking and emailing

A New Jersey judge has refused to dismiss a defamation claim against a lawyer who admits he had been drinking when he sent an email that appeared to accuse a former client of extortion. Judge Charles Powers Jr. of New Jersey allowed the claim against lawyer Warren Martin Jr. and…

Dec 22, 2015 6:15 AM CST

Judge settles dispute over whether a child can call a stepparent ‘Mom’

Children have few rights of self-determination, but they should be able to decide whether to call a stepparent “Mom” if they are mature enough to make the decision, a New Jersey judge has ruled. Judge Lawrence Jones ruled after a woman identified as “T.S.” objected because her 8-year-old son was…

Dec 18, 2015 5:45 AM CST

New Jersey lawyer suspended for 1 year over large unsecured loan from client

In one of the harshest penalties ever imposed on a New Jersey attorney for borrowing money from a client, the state supreme court has suspended William Torre for 12 months. Quadrupling the disciplinary penalty sought by the state Office of Attorney Ethics, the state’s top court called the former Hasbrouck…

Dec 16, 2015 4:55 PM CST

Ex-prosecutor who stole $700K from clients had ‘profound remorse’ for prior claimed theft

A former New York prosecutor has admitted to embezzling $700,000 from four real estate clients. Robert DePalma, 54, who has a St. George law office and formerly worked for the Staten Island district attorney, has pleaded guilty to a scheme to defraud and four counts of second-degree grand larceny, said…

Dec 11, 2015 2:55 PM CST

Law firm files for bankruptcy after $2.25M verdict against it

Five lawyers are among the creditors listed in a bankruptcy filing by New Jersey law firm Roper & Twardowsky. The Totowa law firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last Friday, NorthJersey.com reports. Two of the lawyer-creditors are William Skepnek of Kansas and Steven Smoot of Texas, who were awarded…

Dec 11, 2015 5:45 AM CST

Firefighters sue siren maker over hearing loss

About 4,400 pending claims filed on behalf of firefighters allege they suffered hearing loss from sirens made by Federal Signal Corp. The latest suit, removed last week to federal court in New Jersey, claims the pitch and decibel level on the sirens were unreasonably dangerous, the New Jersey Law Journal…

Dec 10, 2015 11:06 AM CST

Lawsuit says aggravated municipal judge shouted at defendant who sought sign-language interpreter

A New Jersey man who says he was “ignored, humiliated and treated with discrimination and deliberate indifference” when he sought a sign-language interpreter in a traffic ticket case has filed a federal civil rights suit against Newark and its municipal court system. After two court hearings without an interpreter, Chenedu…

Dec 7, 2015 5:00 PM CST

Judge accused of inappropriate ear tug tells New Jersey Supreme Court he ‘failed the judiciary’

A New Jersey judge accused of tugging the ear of a drug-court employee stood before the New Jersey Supreme Court on Wednesday as it considered whether to discipline him. Judge Gerald Council told the justices he was embarrassed to be there, the New Jersey Law Journal (sub. req.) and the…

Dec 3, 2015 10:49 AM CST

Client’s photos of John Lennon and Sex Pistols are prominently featured in law office exhibit

A photo of the Sex Pistols breaking out the booze during an early a.m. plane flight might not be everyone’s idea of appropriate law office decor. But for a New Jersey business law boutique whose client roster includes a photographer who has chronicled rock and roll icons since the 1970s,…

Nov 24, 2015 8:00 AM CST