Charles Toutant

November 04, 2009 | Law.com

Pro se litigants are not entitled to greater rights than those with lawyers, a New Jersey appeals court said this week in affirming dismissal of a legal malpractice case under the state's entire controversy doctrine. The judges found that the claims raised in the instant case by the plaintiff -- who sued his lawyer three times, two of them pro se in a small claims action and probate action -- "were well within the penumbra of the factual matrix that was litigated to a conclusion" in a probate case in 2006.

By Charles Toutant

5 minute read

February 12, 2007 | New Jersey Law Journal

Most drunken driving cases are based on breath tests, but in cases that rely on blood samples; prosecutors' jobs just got a little harder. The defendant has the right to cross-examine the medical professionals who drew the blood, an appeals court says, and getting that person into court may be problematic.

By Charles Toutant

5 minute read

June 19, 2006 | New Jersey Law Journal

Delaware suffered a setback last Tuesday in its border war with New Jersey over the siting of a liquefied natural gas terminal on the Delaware River. Delaware wants the case out of the U.S. Supreme Court because, it claims, this is not a true dispute between states that would invoke the Court's original jurisdiction. Rather, the other party in interest is BP, the energy company it claims is bankrolling the litigation.

By Charles Toutant

3 minute read

February 23, 2007 | New Jersey Law Journal

A conflict between New Jersey and Delaware over regulating their shared boundary may come down to modern construction of a term draftsmen coined a century ago. The phrase, "riparian jurisdiction," used in a 1905 compact that settled an intrastate fishing-rights dispute, is being invoked by Delaware to limit construction of industrial facilities across the river in New Jersey.

By Charles Toutant

7 minute read

June 14, 2005 | The Legal Intelligencer

Medical malpractice filings have declined steadily in New Jersey since the adoption of a tort reform measure designed to weed out frivolous suits.

By Charles Toutant

5 minute read

October 05, 2009 | New Jersey Law Journal

Doctors often are in a position to spot how legal issues affect their patients' health, and Ocean-Monmouth Legal Services is launching a program to address those problems in a medical setting.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read

April 18, 2011 | New Jersey Law Journal

An employer is not responsible when a chronically intoxicated employee is involved in a fatal car crash on his own time, a state appeals court rules.

By Charles Toutant

5 minute read

June 09, 2004 | Law.com

Clerkships at New Jersey's largest firms are in a four-year decline. Some firms have trimmed their summer programs, while others have axed them entirely. Why? Experts say the state's economy has some bearing, but the main reason for slimmer programs is that they no longer serve as a farm system for new talent. Some observers see a trend as firms apply money formerly spent on summer programs to lateral hiring instead.

By Charles Toutant

6 minute read

June 17, 2010 | The Legal Intelligencer

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

August 26, 2010 | Law.com

The special master appointed to handle discovery in a mammoth fraud and bribery suit against Prudential Life Insurance has agreed to reduce his fees, even as the plaintiffs lawyers are trying to dispense with him altogether. William Hunt said in a letter to the parties that he would cut his hourly rate from $450 to $350. Plaintiffs lawyer Angela Roper, who had sounded alarms over the $77,265 bill Hunt submitted for his first three weeks on the job, said she will continue to appeal Hunt's appointment in the case.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read