Charles Toutant

September 10, 2004 | Law.com

Suits against nursing homes for abuse and neglect have been few in New Jersey, largely because they are difficult and don't pay much. Few lawyers concentrate their practices in that area as conventional wisdom says there's little money to be made representing old, sick people with no earnings and short life expectancies. Until now, that is. For a combination of reasons, the sleepy field is getting some attention from plaintiffs lawyers.

By Charles Toutant

10 minute read

October 07, 2005 | Law.com

In the nine months since a landmark set of U.S. Supreme Court decisions freed them from the strictures of federal sentencing guidelines, judges in the 3rd Circuit have wasted no time handing out lighter sentences. Since the guidelines became advisory, 3rd Circuit judges have departed downward from them in 47.5 percent of cases. More lenient still was the 2nd Circuit. Adherence to the guidelines was staunchest in the 5th Circuit.

By Charles Toutant

3 minute read

February 14, 2005 | New Jersey Law Journal

Spurning a call for leniency by the Disciplinary Review Board, the state Supreme Court last Thursday disbarred a lawyer who - though charged only with neglect of client matters - had a history of chronic neglect and deceit spanning 29 of his 39 years in practice.

By Charles Toutant

3 minute read

August 02, 2001 | Law.com

Oil companies came up winners in New Jersey's first ruling in litigation over water contamination by the gasoline additive MTBE, and it's a ruling that may have reverberations nationally. A federal judge ruled in Holten v. Chevron that strict liability is pre-empted by an amendment to the federal Clean Air Act, which requires the sale of gasoline containing oxygenates like MTBE that promote cleaner burning.

By Charles Toutant

7 minute read

August 12, 2008 | New Jersey Law Journal

A class-action suit in New Jersey's federal court alleges that title insurance companies in the state are all charging the same premiums, set by a central industry bureau, in violation of antitrust laws.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read

April 11, 2007 | Law.com

After a bad bout with Lyme disease that left him mentally impaired, John Rhody gave up his law practice and looked forward to passing his days with a favorite hobby -- old postcards. But he made no mention of this leisure pursuit when he applied for long-term disability insurance benefits and was asked to list his daily activities. That omission drew him a criminal conviction, followed by ethics charges, and the New Jersey Supreme Court's Disciplinary Review Board voted last week to reprimand him.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read

October 25, 2004 | New Jersey Law Journal

A Shrewsbury contractor won a $15,541 judgment from a customer that stiffed it on a carpentry job, only to see the customer awarded $22,076 in legal fees for defending the case - resulting in a net loss of $6,535.

By Charles Toutant

3 minute read

June 14, 2010 | New Jersey Law Journal

The possibility that a child may suffer serious psychological or emotional harm from severing bonds with foster parents is not alone sufficient grounds for termination of parental rights, a New Jersey appeals court says.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read

May 13, 2010 | New Jersey Law Journal

After a warning from the Camden County Prosecutor's Office and the filing of a class-action suit, Haddonfield is abandoning its opposition to a state directive for diversionary treatment of alcohol-related juvenile offenses.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read

September 10, 2001 | Law.com

The New Jersey state judiciary has issued model civil jury charges that implement a new standard of proof in automobile crashworthiness cases, requiring automakers to prove their vehicles provide occupants adequate protection. The model instruction, which comes amid an upswing in crashworthiness claims, asks the jury to determine whether the vehicle as designed was crashworthy based on the principles of reasonable, safer alternative designs.

By Charles Toutant

6 minute read