Charles Toutant

August 09, 2004 | New Jersey Law Journal

Calling the drug manufacturer's protests "overblown," a Bergen County judge last Wednesday consolidated five phen-fen diet drug cases as the first of 5,800 to go to trial in New Jersey.

By Charles Toutant

5 minute read

December 08, 2010 | Law.com

A New Jersey judge wrongly capped legal fees at $50,000 for each side in a divorce case because he was offended by the sums charged, a state appeals court ruled recently. The judge had found $148,606 in fees for the plaintiff and $81,394 for the defendant "shocking" in a "cut and dry" case.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read

May 30, 2007 | Law.com

A surveillance video of a car exploding on impact with a tollbooth on the Garden State Parkway made a splash on the Internet, and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority was not pleased. The Authority, which oversees the parkway, filed suit in federal court asserting a copyright over the video. Two days later, YouTube and two other video-sharing Web sites agreed to stop showing the video that resulted in the death of a New Jersey man.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read

August 24, 2011 | Law.com

Stryker, Tams & Dill closed its doors Aug. 1. From a high of 47 lawyers in 1985, the New Jersey firm's headcount dropped to 15 in 2010. By this spring, there were only nine lawyers left -- all prime targets for headhunters. The end was hastened by the expansion into New Jersey of out-of-state firms that aggressively courted local talent.

By Charles Toutant

6 minute read

August 23, 2004 | New Jersey Law Journal

In the six years since Cherry Hill drew new maps of drug-free zones throughout the township, 150 people have been charged with drug-related crimes in those areas. Now, it turns out that 42 of them were wrongly accused because of error-ridden maps.

By Charles Toutant

6 minute read

April 15, 2010 | New Jersey Law Journal

A federal judge dismisses a defamation suit against McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, finding the Morristown firm was protected by the litigation privilege when it posted the plaintiff's FBI rap sheet on a federal court Web site.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read

April 06, 2007 | Law.com

A plaintiffs firm that took a "blood bath" in a medical malpractice case had no business asking its expert witness to prove the reasonableness of his fees, a New Jersey appeals court ruled on Tuesday. The result is that Nagel Rice, which claims to be out of pocket more than $100,000 in the losing cause, will have to pay $5,950 more. The expert brought his fee collection case after partner Bruce Nagel balked at his post-trial bill for 17 hours of trial preparation and noted that the firm had lost.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read

August 21, 2006 | New Jersey Law Journal

The revised bankruptcy code's provision for mandatory credit-counseling classes prior to a Chapter 7 petition does not apply in the case of involuntary proceedings, a bankruptcy judge rules.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read

January 18, 2011 | New Jersey Law Journal

A former commodities trader seeking a reduction in alimony payments may have been shortchanged on his assertion that technology rendered his job obsolete, a N.J. appeals court rules.

By Charles Toutant

5 minute read

March 10, 2010 | Law.com

Failure to make a prima facie case that an anonymous e-mail was defamatory is grounds to quash a subpoena seeking the writer's identity, a New Jersey appellate court says. No plaintiff "is entitled to an order unmasking an anonymous author when the statements in question cannot support a cause of action for defamation," the court found Monday. It upheld a trial judge's denial of a subpoena request by a high school student who sued over a message sent to a high school counselor about underage drinking.

By Charles Toutant

5 minute read