Charles Toutant

October 24, 2003 | Law.com

The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. has agreed to pay up to $236 million to settle a class action suit over defective hoses in radiant home-heating systems. The settlement covers purchasers in 44 states and Canada, who raised claims of failure to warn, design defects and negligence. They claimed Goodyear knew the Entran II rubber hoses it produced and sold from 1989 to 1994 tended to crack and break.

By Charles Toutant

3 minute read

January 06, 2003 | New Jersey Law Journal

The first cases to use New Jersey's new drunken-driving test will face a watershed this year, as soon as a Camden County judge decides what's required to give the device a proper shaking out. Cases were moved to the Law Division for a hearing to determine whether the device meets the standard of scientific acceptance and reliability set out in Frye v. U.S. If it does, that would clear the way for the Alcotest to be used in police departments statewide.

By Charles Toutant

7 minute read

August 06, 2010 | New Jersey Law Journal

A personal injury plaintiff who sued a senior-citizens' facility is entitled to discovery on its finances in her effort to defeat its charitable-immunity defense, the Appellate Division rules.

By Charles Toutant

5 minute read

January 04, 2002 | New Jersey Law Journal

Theodore Labrecque Jr.; Alvin Shpeen; Robert Schwankert

By Charles Toutant

3 minute read

August 03, 2011 | New Jersey Law Journal

A federal appeals court finds that that doctors challenging President Obama's health care plan have suffered no injury, and so lack standing to sue.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read

November 13, 2006 | Law.com

Thousands of workers' compensation cases are in limbo in New Jersey because, for months, there was no one reviewing them for possible Medicare liens on recovery. The federal contractor that processed Medicare inquiries in the state stopped answering its phones in May, and a replacement didn't get its operations up and running until October. Since federal statute prohibits disposing of workers' comp cases before Medicare issues are resolved, a 3,300-case backlog emerged by the end of August.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read

August 07, 2008 | Corporate Counsel

A federal judge in Newark, N.J., has ousted Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney from a patent infringement case for representing two companies with adverse interests, finding client waivers inadequate to resolve the conflict. U.S. Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo said the waivers were "very open-ended and vague" and that Buchanan Ingersoll did not explain the risks or reasonably available alternatives to its dual representation. The waivers thus do not demonstrate informed consent, she ruled.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read

October 02, 2003 | Law.com

A federal judge in Newark entered a $3.45 million default judgment last week in a civil rights suit by two waitresses against owners of a Chinese restaurant. According to the suit against King Chef Buffet, the women were deprived of wages and tips, kept in squalid housing and discriminated against based on their gender and ethnicity.

By Charles Toutant

2 minute read

November 03, 2003 | New Jersey Law Journal

New Jersey's bellwether law firms are keeping pace with the national norm in hiring and retaining women and minority lawyers, a Law Journal survey shows.

By Charles Toutant

7 minute read

January 10, 2006 | Law.com

Lawsuits are occupational hazards for anti-cult blogger Rick Ross. Sued a half-dozen times during the past decade for his public pronouncements, especially on the Internet, he's managed to win all but one case, with the help of pro bono counsel. His latest close call came in December when Landmark Education, a promoter of self-help seminars, withdrew with prejudice a federal suit alleging defamation. But Ross knows certain groups still have him in their sights.

By Charles Toutant

8 minute read