Latest posts
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False Claims Act Not Retroactive
In early 2008, New Jersey adopted its own version of a federal law called the False Claims Act. The law allows private individuals to sue government contractors for fraud on behalf of the state. This is called a qui tam claim. Someone who sues under this law is allowed to keep between 15% and 30%…
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Justice Scalia Is A Harsh Colleague
Do you think that your co-workers are sometimes a little hard on you? Maybe sometimes they criticize something you say, or how you do something? That seems like the sort of thing that, say, a United States Supreme Court Justice wouldn’t have to deal with on a regular basis. That is, unless your colleague on…
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Suing Over Grades
The New Jersey Supreme Court has finally decided what is certainly a pressing issue in the minds of unhappy students: can you sue your school for giving you poor grades? The answer was a resounding, “Nope.” The Court determined that grades are not subject to judicial review, only the grading process is. This means that…
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Family Of Dead Inmate Can Pursue Loss Of Enjoyment Of Life Claim
The family of a Passaic County man who hanged himself in jail, and then died after going into a coma, has been told that they can pursue a damages claim for loss of life enjoyment. The man had been jailed for threatening his mother with a knife, and for subsequently violating his probation. After being…
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End Chemical Use Exemption For Small Businesses
In 1983, New Jersey passed the Environmental Cleanup Responsibility Act (“ECRA”). The first of its kind, the act required that industrial cites be investigated and cleaned-up when, among other things, a business is sold. A short time later, New Jersey replaced ECRA with the Industrial Site Recovery Act (“ISRA”), which had the same fundamental effect…
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Former Prosecutor Wins Big
The Township of Warren was ordered to pay $1.26 million to a former prosecutor in Morris County (in addition to another $1.38 million that it had already paid). The prosecutor was fired after making some pretty serious accusations against a Morris County. Namely, the prosecutor accused the judge of being drunk during trials. Well, it…
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From The Your Tax Dollars Not At Work Department
Press reports indicate that the Social Security Administration will no longer send out yearly earnings history reports to Americans under the age of 60. These were the documents that you received each year detailing how much income you made every year of your working life, and what your estimated social security earnings would be, based…
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Estate Planning Documents Every Family Should Consider
Estate Planning Documents The estate planning documents I will discuss in this post are important for every family to consider. They reduce stress in circumstances that commonly arise as people age. No one wants to think about what will happen as we or our parents get older, but it is best to be prepared for…
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Divorced Parent Can Demand College Records
A college student recently filed a lawsuit seeking to block access to his school records by his father, who pursuant of a divorce judgment, was paying the tuition. A Judge in Ocean County recently ruled that an unemancipated college student (whom a divorced parent still has to pay child support for) can be ordered to…
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Government Can Lose Evidence Without Repercussion
New Jersey’s Attorney General, specifically the Division of Criminal Justice, has been a bit careless it seems. The state body in charge of criminal prosecutions has lost records that it seized during an investigation in 1985. A company sued for the records (or damages resulting from the loss of the records) because it wanted them…