Charles Toutant

December 19, 2005 | Law.com

In a move to end the gridlock accompanying New Jersey's adoption of a new device to prove drunken driving cases, the state Supreme Court has taken over the test case that will establish the machine's scientific reliability. The court directly certified a group of five drunken driving cases that were consolidated for evidentiary hearings on the scientific reliability of the Alcotest 7110, the infrared device that replaces the 50-year-old Breathalyzer.

By Charles Toutant

3 minute read

March 15, 2000 | Law.com

By Charles Toutant

9 minute read

December 21, 2006 | Law.com

When a client hesitated over paying his bill, solo attorney Richard Ledingham threatened her with criminal prosecution for "theft of services" and he didn't stop there: He also warned that she might lose her business, her home and her professional license. Those actions -- all to collect a fee judged to be exorbitant -- are cause for suspending Ledingham from practice for three months, says New Jersey's Disciplinary Review Board.

By Charles Toutant

5 minute read

July 06, 2011 | The Legal Intelligencer

Joining a growing number of firms and companies around the country, McCarter & English has adopted a plan to offset unequal tax treatment faced by employees who cover same-sex partners in their health-insurance plans.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read

October 02, 2009 | Law.com

The New Jersey Supreme Court has censured an attorney for splitting fees with a company that helped find clients entitled to surplus funds from foreclosure sales. The court adopted the Disciplinary Review Board's finding that Garrett Lardiere's relationship with Equinox Research and Recovery Co. constituted impermissible sharing of legal fees with non-lawyers. In part, the DBR found that Lardiere "relinquished control of his cases to an organization of non-lawyers who were acting under color of his name."

By Charles Toutant

5 minute read

May 14, 2008 | New Jersey Law Journal

When the attorney-review clause in a lease requires delivery of a cancellation notice in person or by certified mail, a fax will not suffice, a Bergen County judge says.

By Charles Toutant

5 minute read

December 19, 2008 | New Jersey Law Journal

An appeals court has reinstated a suit by a deputy attorney general who charged he suffered retaliation and missed promotions after complaining about colleagues' racially insensitive remarks.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read

October 15, 2009 | Law.com

A federal appeals court has bounced an age-bias suit by a lawyer whose firm axed him after a tortuous year-and-a half stint, finding there were ample non-discriminatory reasons for firing him. Affirming summary judgment for the firm, Moser, Patterson & Sheridan of Shrewsbury, N.J., the 3rd Circuit held that the evidence proferred by John Kelly shows that at most, age was one of multiple motivations, which is not enough to prove a violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

By Charles Toutant

5 minute read

May 20, 2008 | The Legal Intelligencer

Despite defense arguments that the damages were caused by an act of God, a class-action suit by property owners downstream of 22 Rancocas Creek dams that allegedly failed in a fierce 2004 storm is slowly but surely settling.

By Charles Toutant

7 minute read

February 02, 2010 | New Jersey Law Journal

Expert testimony about so-called false confession syndrome — by which criminal suspects give statements under coercion — has been considered inadmissible because the concept has not gained wide acceptance in the mental health field.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read