ACECA Report Recommendations to Expedite New Jersey Civil Cases

April 16, 2014 |

Submitted by New Jersey Civil Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark The Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Expedited Civil Actions issued a report yesterday that recommends a number of ideas to improve the timeliness of civil cases and suggests a pilot program that would test their proposals. Chief Justice Stuart Rabner formed the committee in May 2013 to…

State v. Leone | Second Degree Theft by Deception and Pretrial Intervention

April 11, 2014 |

Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffery Hark -2-3382 State v. Leone, App. Div. (per curiam) (13 pp.) Reversal of Pretrial Intervention On the State’s appeal, the appellate panel reverses the Law Division’s order admitting defendant Philip Leone to pretrial intervention (PTI) over the State’s objection. In 2004, Leone approached a longtime friend to solicit…

ObamaCare Drastically Improves the Health of Qui Tam Suits Under the False Claims Act

April 11, 2014 |

Cullen Byrne, Esq. One of the lesser-known sections of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (“Affordable Care Act”), colloquially known as ObamaCare, provides expansive amendments to the False Claims Act (“FCA”).1 While these amendments are not retroactive,2 they will most likely increase the amount of FCA-based claims in the future. The FCA…

Sidewalk Liability: Slip and Fall | New Jersey Personal Injury

April 11, 2014 |

Submitted by New Jersey personal injury attorney, Jeffrey Hark Bell v. Turiello, App. Div. (per curiam) (15 pp.) Plaintiff was working as a mail carrier when she tripped and fell on the public sidewalk in front of defendants’ two-family home. She broke her ankle and injured her foot. She sued defendant-property owners alleging that their…

New Jersey DWI and Aggravated Manslaughter – First Degree Charge

April 11, 2014 |

Submitted by New Jersey DWI and Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark 14-2-3474 State v. Liepe, App. Div. (per curiam) (11 pp.) The serious issue presented in this case is the prosecutor’s decision to charge an individual with aggravated manslaughter, a first degree charge exposing the defendant to a possible jail term between 10-20 years in New…

The Importance of Scientific Evidence in Workers’ Compensation | Yanecko v. Waste Management

April 7, 2014 |

Submitted by New Jersey Workers Compensation Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark. 62-2-3403 Yanecko v. Waste Management, App. Div. (per curiam) (13 pp.) Plaintiff’s employer, Waste Management, appeals the Judge of Worker’s Compensation’s order finding that Yanecko suffered a compensable occupational injury leaving him 25% permanently partially disabled due to “orthopedic residuals of a chronic lumbosacral sprain with findings of disc herniation…

Grant of PTI to Embezzling Lawyer To Help Pay Back Victims Reversed

April 3, 2014 |

A trial court’s grant of pretrial intervention to a N.J. lawyer who admitted misappropriating $100,000 from investors—explicitly so that he could keep working to pay them back—didn’t stand up on appeal. The judge’s decision that letting Middletown solo Philip Leone stay out of jail would be in the best interests of his creditors was predicated…

No Compensation for Worker Hurt Crossing Street From Company Lot

April 3, 2014 |

A worker hit by a car while crossing the street to her office from a garage where her employer provided parking was not injured on the job, the New Jersey Supreme Court says. Overturning a workers’ compensation award, the justices said the garage was not under the employer’s control, despite its renting of parking spaces…

SOCIAL SERVICES LAW | WORKERS’ COMPENSATION

April 3, 2014 |

62-1-3344 Hersh v. County of Morris, Sup. Ct. (Fernandez-Vina, J.) (23 pp.) Because the County did not control the garage where Hersh parked, the route of ingress and egress from the parking garage to her office, or the public street where she was injured, and did not expose her to any special or additional hazards,…

Police Confront Rising Number of Mentally Ill Suspects

April 3, 2014 |

By FERNANDA SANTOS and ERICA GOODE APRIL 1, 2014 Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark ALBUQUERQUE — James Boyd, a homeless man camping in the Sandia Foothills here, could hear the commands of the police officers who were trying to move him out. The problem was that Mr. Boyd, 38, had a history…