New Jersey

NJ Considers Punitives in Will Contests

The New Jersey Supreme Court is considering whether a lawyer and his client should be required to pay punitive damages and attorney fees to the winning side in a will contest. The will, signed by an elderly woman before surgery, made lawyer Ronald Casale the executor of her multimillion-dollar estate…

Oct 17, 2007 11:33 AM CDT

Four NJ Judges Investigated in Parking-Ticket Probe

The New Jersey attorney general is investigating whether four municipal court judges in Jersey City fixed parking tickets for friends and family. One of the judges under investigation is Wanda Molina, who was the chief judge until she resigned last month, the New York Times reports. Officials told the newspaper…

Oct 10, 2007 1:09 PM CDT

Top NJ Judge Joins 2—Yes, 2—Family Firms

When it came time to retire from the bench and return to law practice, former New Jersey Chief Justice James Zazzali had a hard time making a choice between two family law firms. So he didn’t. Zazzali is now counsel at both a Newark, N.J., law firm started by his…

Oct 4, 2007 7:05 PM CDT

Towns Reconsider Anti-Immigrant Laws

Faced with lawsuits and failing businesses, some municipalities are rethinking laws designed to crack down on illegal immigrants. The town of Riverside, N.J., is among those that have reconsidered, the New York Times reports. Its law had punished landlords who rent to illegal immigrants or employers who hire them. But…

Sep 26, 2007 6:23 PM CDT

Addiction Help Weighed in Discipline Cases

New Jersey’s lawyer discipline body is recommending three-month suspended suspensions for two lawyers who were caught with drugs and attended addiction counseling sessions. But it refused to follow the state supreme court’s lead and impose a lesser sentence, distinguishing the present cases from a May ruling by the court, the…

Sep 26, 2007 3:46 PM CDT

Deposition Distress Suit Tossed

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit that contends a lawyer’s questions during a deposition went “beyond any acceptable behavior of a civilized human being,” causing emotional distress for parents of a baby who had died. The suit targeted lawyer Judith Wahrenberger of Springfield, N.J., for asking a medical malpractice plaintiff…

Sep 25, 2007 11:38 AM CDT

Judge Allows Students’ Hitler Youth Buttons

A New Jersey school may not bar fifth-grade students from wearing a Hitler Youth button to protest school uniforms, a federal judge has ruled. Judge Joseph Greenaway of Newark said there was no evidence the buttons will disrupt the educational process and it is likely the kids will prevail on…

Sep 21, 2007 2:21 PM CDT

‘Snitches Wear Stitches’ in NJ Cases

“Snitches wear stitches,” is the assertion of a New Jersey gang leader that is proving true in two related cases. Latin Kings leader Jose Negrete told the New York Times in a jailhouse interview that gang members who cooperate with prosecutors are unlikely to survive. He spoke specifically about a…

Sep 19, 2007 3:44 PM CDT

Three More Pleas in Accident Scam

Prosecutors have gained three more guilty pleas in a probe of phony car accidents that ensnared a New Jersey lawyer. Edward Campbell Sr. of Irvington, N.J., admitted at a hearing last week that he staged accidents and submitted false insurance claims for lawyer Irwin Seligsohn, the New Jersey Law Journal…

Sep 19, 2007 12:53 PM CDT

Foreclosure Sale Nixed Over 142 Stinky Pets

A New Jersey judge has allowed the winning bidder in a foreclosure auction to cancel the deal because of 142 foul-smelling pets, both dead and alive, found on the property. Bergen County Judge Peter Doyne allowed the buyer to rescind the $2.6 million purchase under a 70-year-precedent that allows foreclosures…

Sep 14, 2007 2:32 PM CDT

Threat to Sue Ethics Grievant Held Improper

A lawyer’s strongly worded letter to a client who filed an ethics grievance against him has resulted in a recommendation for a reprimand. The New Jersey Disciplinary Review Board says Harry Levin of Levin & Cyphers in Toms River, N.J., violated ethics rules requiring courtesy to participants in the justice…

Sep 14, 2007 11:46 AM CDT

No Abortion Warning By NJ Doc Required

A physician has no duty to warn a woman before an abortion that she is about to terminate a human life, the New Jersey Supreme Court held today. Ruling in the case of a married woman who decided with her husband to abort their baby and then regretted the decision,…

Sep 12, 2007 10:33 PM CDT

Judge in Trouble Over BS Comment

A New Jersey municipal court judge contends he shouldn’t be disciplined for telling a landlord his excuse for failing to show up in court was “a lot of bullshit.” Judge Frank Leanza of Guttenberg, N.J., said he had learned his lesson during a hearing on Thursday before the Advisory Committee…

Sep 12, 2007 1:34 PM CDT

NJ Firms Raise Associate Salaries

While they’re not at the absolute top of the associate salary scale, a number of law firms in New Jersey are nonetheless raising starting pay for first-years significantly. Although some firms are holding the line, others say they are upping the associate ante by as much as 10 to 15…

Sep 10, 2007 10:52 PM CDT

2 NJ Lawyers in Trouble for Real Estate Deals

An ethics panel is recommending discipline for two New Jersey lawyers handling real estate deals that unraveled or involved fraud. The board recommended a six-month suspension for Bincy Abraham of Marlton, N.J., a lawyer hired by McClary Financial Group in Bloomfield, N.J., to represent the company’s homebuying clients, the New…

Sep 7, 2007 10:53 AM CDT