A New Jersey nursing home defense attorney finds himself under fire after a presentation to fellow litigators at which he seemed to recommend, whether in a jocular way or not, making plaintiffs fight for every document and asserting blanket claims of privilege to keep relevant papers out of their hands. Curiously, adversaries who’ve litigated against attorney Donald Davidson tell a reporter that they consider him a straight shooter who has not used abusive or stonewalling tactics against them. (Charles Toutant, “Candid Comments About Discovery Bring Lawyer National Notoriety”, New Jersey Law Journal, Sept. 21).
Posts Tagged ‘New Jersey’
“Drunken man passes out, wins $850K from police”
New Jersey: “Ramsey and Bergen County police must pay a man who got drunk and passed out on a snow bank $850,000. A jury decided the police bungled a 911 call, and should have found Frederick Puglisi sooner. …Puglisi walked out of a New Year’s Eve party at a Ramsey hotel in 2001 and passed out on a snow bank for nine hours.” Attorney Samuel Denburg convinced a jury that Puglisi was only 15 percent responsible for his resulting frostbite and other injuries, while the police were 85 percent responsible because the 911 dispatcher did not press for enough details from a bystander or pass all the details on to officers, and because the police conducted only a cursory search of the scene. (“Jury Makes Police Pay $850,000 For Not Finding Partygoer”, WNBC, Sept. 29; “Drunken man passes out, wins $850K from police”, Newsday, Sept. 29; “Drunken ‘Snowman’ Gets $850G Payday”, 1010WINS, Sept. 29).
Update: blame it on Riyadh
Even though the 9/11 commission (debunking certain widely circulated stories to the contrary) concluded that the government of Saudi Arabia did not fund al-Qaeda, several institutional victims of the terrorist attacks, including Cantor Fitzgerald Securities and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, recently filed suit against a long list of foreign entities including the Saudi government and various financial institutions for their alleged role in the attacks (Larry Neumeister, “Port Authority to Join Suit Against Saudi Arabia Over 9/11 Attack”, AP/Law.com, Sept. 13). The U.S. government has been highly critical of the freelance use of private litigation to second-guess the state of U.S.-Saudi relations, which has in no way deterred colorful asbestos-tobacco zillionaire Ron Motley from setting up his own mini-CIA-cum-State-Department-for-profit toward that end (Jennifer Senior, “Intruders in the House of Saud, Part II: A Nation Unto Himself”, New York Times Magazine, Mar. 14)(see Jul. 11, 2003). And in the New York Observer, Nina Burleigh in February profiled attorney Brian Alexander of the prominent plaintiff’s air-crash firm of Kreindler & Kreindler, who had “already filed a suit — on behalf of the families of more than 1,000 9/11 families?against a list of foreign entities hundreds of pages long.” (“Air Disasters, Legal Fees And Justice for the Victims”, New York Observer, Feb. 23).
To protect, and serve, and sue
The traditional “firefighter’s rule” holds “that firefighters, police and rescue personnel accept an inherent risk of injury or even death in their jobs and generally cannot sue those they’re hired to protect. Their recourse is worker’s compensation claims, according to the rule. But lobbying by powerful unions and court decisions have led some states to limit the rule’s scope or rescind it altogether.” I’m quoted in the article criticizing recent moves away from the rule. “New Jersey is one of 11 states that allow police officers, firefighters and rescue personnel to file civil lawsuits when they’re injured through the negligence of individuals or entities.” (Tim Zatzariny Jr., “Police officers sue over injuries on job”, Camden (N.J.) Courier-Post, Aug. 30). For more, see Sept. 30, 2003; Apr. 1 and Jul. 16, 2004.
Imagine if it had been about the money
“[Attorney Allen] Lowy said that he was not fazed by the suggestion that [New Jersey Gov. James] McGreevey might resign. He said he and Mr. [Golan] Cipel were not seeking a financial settlement, ‘We weren’t concerned with the money,’ Mr. Lowy said.” (David Kocieniewski, “A Governor’s Downfall, in 20 Wrenching Days”, New York Times, Aug. 15). “Sources in McGreevey’s administration said Saturday that Cipel originally demanded $50 million [to not press a harassment complaint] but the figure dropped to $5 million as negotiations progressed.” (“Man in N.J. Gov. Case Says He Is Straight”, AP/ABCNews.com, Aug. 15). More: New Jersey Law Journal, Sept. 8.
Worker’s comp: trauma over visitor’s remark
New Jersey: “County freeholders Tuesday paid nearly $26,000 to a Crest Haven Nursing Home employee who claimed she suffered a psychiatric disorder in 2001 after a nursing home visitor made an inappropriate remark to her.” Nursing assistant Cynthia Allen, a longtime employee whose lawyer said she had a good work record, “alleged that she was feeding another patient in late December 2000 when a nursing home visitor said ‘I bet you have some fresh stuff.'” Although the visitor later denied saying anything and no one else heard the comment, Allen said it had been made in a sexually offensive way and that she had felt intimidated when seeing the visitor on two subsequent occasions. Medical experts agreed that she had suffered psychological trauma over the incident. A freeholder who voted for the payment nonetheless termed it “bizarre” and said “This is what’s wrong with our legal system.” (W. F. Keough, “Visitor?s remark to worker at Crest Haven costs county $26,000 in compensation claim”, Press of Atlantic City, Jun. 23 (reg)).
N.J. bans bars’ “Ladies’ Nights”, supposed beneficiaries glum
“Why, after all, would a bar offer discounts to women? Not because the owner harbors a deep-seated hostility toward men, perpetuating centuries of oppression. People who run such establishments understand that a lot of men patronize taverns partly to meet women, and that they will come more often and stay longer if women are abundant than if they are scarce….[I]n New Jersey, unreasonableness rules.” (Steve Chapman, “Putting the brakes on ladies’ nights”, Chicago Tribune, Jun. 6). See also Aug. 4, 2003 (Calif.)
Virginia primitive, round 5
Ramesh Ponnuru of National Review Online (“The Corner”, May 18) has written in defense of the new Virginia statute, much criticized in this space, which declares null and void within the state not only civil unions but also any “partnership contract or other arrangement between persons of the same sex purporting to bestow the privileges or obligations of marriage” (Mar. 19, Apr. 18, Apr. 23, May 12). As I noted two weeks ago, given the unclarity of the law’s drafting, a prolonged guessing game about its meaning may be inevitable; but some guesses are more plausible than others.
Signed a waiver? Doesn’t matter
Courts stoking the litigation explosion: “For years, companies that sponsor higher risk activities such as scuba diving and skydiving have asked participants to sign waivers designed to absolve them from lawsuits if injury or death results. Yesterday, a [New Jersey] state appeals court declared those release forms do not bar relatives from filing a wrongful death lawsuit. … The court said while [Eugene J.] Pietroluongo [who died in a scuba diving accident at age 44] had the power to sign away his right to sue, the law did not allow him to sign away the rights of his survivors to bring a wrongful death lawsuit.” The court declared the waiver, voluntary or no, to be unenforceable as a policy matter. Attorneys, presumably deadpan, said the decision “could result in more lawsuits”. (Kathy Barrett Carter, “Survivors can sue despite a waiver”, Newark Star-Ledger, Apr. 13)(& letters to the editor, Jul. 26: first, second).
“Database tech helps lawyers scoop up clients”
Lawyers as paladins of privacy, cont’d: After her son was erroneously arrested, Julie Danielson checked her mail and was “shocked to see at least 12 envelopes — postmarked only hours after her son’s arrest — from defense attorneys offering their services. The lawyers had been eager recipients of a jailhouse e-mail list supplied daily by the county sheriff. … The couple was astonished that Riverside County [California] deputies failed to call them when their son was arrested — though contact and medical information was in the young man’s wallet — yet managed to inform people who wanted his business.” One envelope was emblazoned “Experts in Drug Charges”. “In New Jersey, which sends information companies who have registered with the state daily updates of who’s been arrested, a Supreme Court committee recently tightened its rules on the content of direct-mail solicitations after hearing complaints ‘in a volume too great to ignore.’ One man had received 22 letters from lawyers.” (AP/CNN, Mar. 29). More on direct-mail: Jul. 15, 1999. And: Philadelphia Inquirer columnist John Grogan explores how police accident reports serve as grist for lawyer solicitation of injury suits (“Lawyers Sow the Seeds of Lawsuits”, Apr. 5)(reg).