December 2007
Fearing Class Action, Carrier Removes Lawyer's Dental-Bill Suit to
Federal Court
Henry
Gottlieb, New Jersey Law Journal
12-14-07 --
A New Jersey lawyer who won a $45 million class action settlement
last year from Horizon Blue Cross is suing the carrier in small
claims court for not paying his $462 dental bill. . . . And the
carrier, saying it fears the suit may be a prelude to another class
action, has hired McCarter & English, the state's largest firm, to
make a federal case out of it. . . . A dentist charged Eric Katz
$600 to fill a decayed tooth with composition bonding, but Horizon
Blue Cross told him his coverage under his ex-wife's family policy
permitted reimbursement for an inexpensive silver filling only. The
carrier pegged the benefit at $138, leaving the rest of the bill to
Katz. . . . Katz appealed to the carrier, armed with a statement
from dentist Fred Teschemacher that bonding was required because
Katz's teeth were "severely eroded."
November 2007
Lawyer-Judge May Be at Center of Land-Flip Fraud
Mary Pat
Gallagher, New Jersey Law Journal
11-30-07 --A Garfield, N.J., lawyer who is also the
town's judge may have played a central role in a scheme to defraud
lenders by obtaining mortgages based on inflated appraisals of
run-down properties. . . . A state civil suit points to Garfield
solo William Colacino Jr. as the lawyer referred to in a federal
criminal case as "W.C.," an unindicted co-conspirator whose legal
services, law office, attorney bank accounts and legal assistant
were allegedly used in the scheme. . . . Colacino, admitted to the
New Jersey bar in 1973, has been Garfield's judge since 1984. He
also sat in Wood-Ridge from 2004 until the end of 2006. . . .
Neither he nor his lawyer in the civil case, Karen Painter Randall
of Roseland, N.J.'s Connell Foley, returned a reporter's call. . . .
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Walsh, the prosecutor in the federal
case, declines to say whether W.C. is Colacino or whether W.C. will
be criminally charged.
Judge Korpita pleads not guilty to DWI
He
could face official misconduct charge
By
Michael Scholl, Daily Record
11-28-07 --George R. Korpita is used to presiding over courtrooms from his
perches on the benches of the municipal courts of Dover, Victory
Gardens and Rockaway. . . . But he got a different perspective of a
courtroom Tuesday morning when he made his first appearance as a
defendant in state Superior Court in Union County to face charges of
driving while intoxicated and careless driving that stem from a Nov.
6 incident in Roxbury. . . . Korpita, 47, did not speak during the
three-minute hearing before Judge John S. Triarsi. But he stood
behind the defense table next to his attorney, James E. Trabilsy,
who entered pleas of not guilty to the DWI and careless driving
charges on his client's behalf. . . . Korpita may later face a more
serious charge, according to Assistant Morris County Prosecutor
Ralph Amirata, who told Triarsi that the investigation into the Nov.
6 incident "is still ongoing."
Garfield judge relieved of duties
By
Alexander MacInnes, Herald News
11-28-07 --William C. Colacino Jr., the Garfield
municipal judge with alleged ties to an elaborate real estate scheme
in Paterson, has been removed temporarily from his seat by Garfield
City Manager Thomas Duch. . . . Colacino, who has not been indicted
or identified by federal prosecutors in that case, was relieved of
his responsibilities last week by Duch, with Bergen County presiding Municipal Judge
Roy McGeady replacing Colacino until further notice. . . . "The
press has indicated that his initials have come up frequently in
this case, but at this point without an indictment, they're just
allegation," Duch said. "You're innocent until proven guilty on one
side, and on the other side, people are coming into Municipal Court
to have cases heard, and they're having their case heard by a judge
who keeps being referred to in the press."
Judge Broome reprimanded by N.J. panel
By Madelaine Vitale Staff Writer
11-14-07 -- An Atlantic County judge who imposed
improper fines for young motorists caught with small amounts of
alcohol in their blood has received a reprimand for not following
proper protocol, but not for his tough stand on the issue. . . . A
judicial panel concluded that Municipal Court Judge Henry Broome Jr.
did nothing wrong beyond charging excessive fines. Broome fined 11
young violators as much as $800 each after they were caught driving
with blood-alcohol levels between .01 and .07. The fines were issued
between 2004 and 2005 and were later partially refunded after a
court order. . . . The "baby drunken driving" law allows motorists
younger than 21 to be prosecuted for driving with blood-alcohol
levels below the legal limit of .08, but it does not allow a judge
to issue the same fines that would be issued to drivers caught with
higher blood-alcohol levels.
Judge Disciplined for Rough Justice But Not for Leveling 'Baby DWI'
Fines
Michael
Booth, New Jersey Law Journal
11-9-07 -- The New Jersey Supreme Court on
Wednesday reprimanded veteran municipal court Judge Henry Broome Jr.
for multiple ethics violations but decided against discipline for a
particular quirk of his jurisprudence: imposing DWI fines not
authorized by statute. . . . The court agreed with its Advisory
Committee on Attorney Ethics that at the time Broome assessed fines
on underage drivers under the so-called "Baby DWI" law, there was
genuine uncertainty about municipal court judges' power to do so,
since the statute and its legislative history could be construed as
ambiguous. . . . However, the court did impose fines upon Broome for
other foibles, such as: . . . failing to follow a state-court
prohibition against dismissal of charges of refusal to take a
Breathalyzer test; . . . participating in plea negotiations while
sitting as a judge in a case; . . . negotiating and approving a plea
agreement in the prosecutor's absence; . . . accepting plea
agreements without first ascertaining the factual bases; . . .
warning a defendant who testified in his own behalf that the judge
would have him "indicted" if he lied under oath; . . . advising
litigants at the start of court sessions of his "$100 policy,"
namely that fines of that amount or less were due and payable on the
day imposed.
Local Lawyer Cited for Contempt Files Ethics Complaint Against Judge
New York
Lawyer, By Michael Booth, New Jersey Law Journal
11-9-07 --
A lawyer arrested and held in contempt by a Bloomfield Municipal
Court judge has filed a complaint against him with the Advisory
Committee on Judicial Conduct, claiming he penalized her for raising
a racial-profiling defense in her client's traffic-violation case. .
. . Rashidah Hasan, an East Orange solo who is also the director of
legal affairs for Essex County College, appeared before
Judge Joseph Connolly on Oct. 4 on behalf of her client, DeWayne
Smith. Bloomfield police had stopped Smith and charged him with
careless driving, driving with no insurance, having a loud muffler
and failing to obey police orders. . . . Smith, who is black,
believed he was the victim of racial profiling, Hasan says, and she
demanded that the police department turn over records of its traffic
stops, which might support his claim. . . . After Municipal
Prosecutor Paul Sant’Ambrogio concluded his case, Hasan made a
verbal motion to dismiss the charges. . . . Connolly, she says,
“went into a rage, pounding on the desk,” held her in contempt and
ordered her to pay a fine of $100. He told her to pay up at the next
scheduled hearing in the case, on Oct. 25. . . . At the second
hearing, Hasan asked Connolly to withdraw the contempt finding,
arguing that she could not adequately represent Smith under the
threat of jail for noncompliance.
Former N.J. Muni Court Judges Plead Not Guilty to Improper Ticket
Fixing
Lisa
Brennan, New Jersey Law Journal
11-4-07 --Four former Jersey City, N.J., Municipal Court judges
alleged to have improperly dismissed tickets for themselves or
others pleaded not guilty to official misconduct charges on Thursday
in Hudson County. . . . Superior Court
Judge Peter Vazquez, in arraigning Wanda Molina, Pauline Sica,
Victor Sison and Irwin Rosen, did not require them to post bail but
directed that they be fingerprinted and processed as defendants. . .
. Vazquez said the venue of the cases will be moved to another
county, since the state's chief witnesses are Hudson County
Assignment Judge Maurice Gallipoli and trial court administrator
Joseph Davis, who conducted the initial investigation. . . . Once
venue is changed, state prosecutors will present the cases to a
grand jury in the new county.
October 2007
Criminal Charges Announced in N.J. Ticket-Fixing Scandal
Lisa
Brennan, New Jersey Law Journal
10-24-07 --
Four Jersey City, N.J., municipal judges,
including the former chief judge, were charged Monday with
improperly dismissing traffic and parking tickets for themselves,
relatives, friends or colleagues. . . . Wanda Molina, who resigned
as chief judge on Sept. 20, was charged with second-degree official
misconduct, as were part-time Judges Pauline Sica and Victor Sison,
who took unpaid leaves of absence last month. All three have since
been replaced. . . . A fourth judge, Irwin Rosen, also on unpaid
leave, was charged with third-degree official misconduct. Since
Rosen has not yet been replaced, Chief Justice Stuart Rabner issued
an order Monday suspending him from judicial duties. . . . The
second-degree charges against Molina, Sica and Sison each carry a
potential jail term of 10 years. Rosen faces a possible five-year
sentence. . . . Molina is accused of dismissing five parking or
traffic tickets for her personal companion. Sica allegedly dismissed
a parking ticket issued to Sison, downgraded another for him and
downgraded a traffic ticket issued to a member of Sison's immediate
family. Sison is charged with soliciting Sica to handle those
tickets for him. Rosen allegedly fixed one parking ticket he had
received three years ago.
Top judge denies report that tix-fix probe extends into
Guttenberg
by
Ken Thorbourne
10-17-07
--The state's top judge denied a
report today in the New Jersey Law Journal that Guttenberg's
municipal court is a target of the state's ticket-fixing probe,
which has resulted in five Jersey City judges stepping down. . .
. According to the article, written by reporter Lisa Brennan,
"court sources" confirmed that the state Attorney General
Office's investigation into improperly dismissed tickets has
been expanded to Guttenberg and East Orange. . . . But Tammy
Kendig, a spokeswoman for New Jersey Chief Justice Stuart Rabner,
denied that the four-block wide town is part of the probe. . . .
"There is an investigation in East Orange being done at the
request of the chief justice," Kendig said. "There is nothing in
Guttenberg." . . . But the Law Journal isn't taking back its
words.
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Cynicism, but no sign of voter revolt over corruption in Jersey
By Tom
Hester Jr., Associated Press
10-13-07 --
It sounds like a joke poking fun at New Jersey's soiled political
reputation: Government corruption is so widespread in the state that
it alone cannot turn off scandal-weary voters. . . . Even as state
Democrats seeking to keep legislative control in November's election
endure high-profile corruption cases, many New Jersey voters seem to
accept corruption as par for the course. . . . New Jersey voters
think their politicians are more corrupt than other states and link
government corruption to the Democrats, but are no more likely to
vote Republican, according to recent polls by Fairleigh Dickinson
University and Quinnipiac University. . . . "The results demonstrate
how cynical the New Jersey electorate has become,'' said Michael
Torpey, who was former Republican Gov. Christine Whitman's chief of
staff. ******** Voters might take some comfort in knowing New Jersey
isn't the most corrupt state, at least in the eyes of one analysis.
The Garden State ranked ninth, based on federal corruption
convictions monitored by the
Corporate Crime Reporter, a weekly crime newsletter,
behind Louisiana, Mississippi,
Kentucky, Alabama,
Ohio, Illinois,
Pennsylvania and Florida. . . . The study
examined convictions in the 35 most populous states and found
Utah, Kansas,
Minnesota, Iowa and Oregon to be
the least corrupt. . . . Russell Mokhiber, the Corporate Crime
Reporter editor, isn't surprised by polls that show New Jersey
voters seem immune to corruption. . . . "In a culture of corruption,
the citizenry submits and stops agitating for change,'' . . .
Mokhiber said. "Citizens need to stand up and demand a war on
corruption to break the cycle of corruption in New Jersey and
elsewhere.''
New Jersey Sees Corruption Flourishing
[pdf link]
Poll indicates public takes dimmer view despite four years of
reforms
A poll
was conducted by the Monmouth University Polling Institute, 400
Cedar Avenue, West Long Branch, NJ 07764 / www.monmouth.edu/polling
10-13-07 --
In the past four years, the state has passed pay-to-play reforms,
banned dual office-holding, and pilot-tested public financing of
legislative elections. In addition, the U.S. Attorney has arrested
or indicted over 100 public officials for corruption. So has the
ethics situation in New Jersey improved? Not at all, say Garden State residents. In fact, on
most questions tracked by the latest Monmouth University/Gannett New
Jersey Poll, public perceptions of corruption in the state have
worsened since 2003.
NOW 5 & COUNTING. . .
Latest 'Ticketgate' judge leaves
as Healy replaces 4 others
By
Ken Thorbourne, Journal Staff Writer
10-12-07
--Yet another Jersey City Municipal
Court judge has been dis-robed. . . . Vincent Signorile, a
full-time judge at the court for more than a decade, took an
immediate leave of absence without pay yesterday amid an ongoing
state investigation into the improper dismissal of parking
tickets. . . . Signorile's departure makes it five Jersey City
justices who have either taken leave or resigned due to the
probe that began last month when two court employees were
suspended based on allegations they fixed more than 65 of their
own tickets. . . . The most prominent judge to give up the bench
has been Chief Judge Wanda Molina, who on Sept. 21 resigned in
the wake of allegations she improperly disposed of parking
tickets issued to her female companion, according to law
enforcement officials. . . . The judges have been falling like
dominoes since, with Judges Victor Sison, Irwin Rosen, Pauline
Sica, and now Signorile all taking leaves. . . . The state
Attorney General's Office, the lead agency conducting the
investigation, has refused to confirm or deny whether the
judges' resignation and leaves are tied to "Ticketgate," but
county and city officials have said the departures are all due
to the probe.
In Parking-Pinched Jersey City, Four Judges Are Suspected of Fixing
Tickets
By
Jonathan Miller, NY Times
10-10-07 --Four
of the city’s 10 municipal court judges — including the former chief
judge — are being investigated by the New Jersey attorney general’s
office on suspicion of fixing parking tickets for friends or family,
and in at least one case for a colleague on the bench, officials
here say. . . . During the past month, the chief judge has resigned
and the three other judges have taken leaves of absence. In
addition, the chief justice of the State Supreme Court, Stuart J.
Rabner, has assigned the day-to-day operations of the court to a
Superior Court judge from Hudson County. . . . In a state
regularly buffeted by the indictments and convictions of public
officials, the trial court administrator here, Joseph F. Davis,
added an ominous note. . . . “People are concerned with what they’re
seeing,” Mr. Davis, whose position is part of the state court
system, said in a recent telephone interview, “and others may be
concerned with our ongoing investigation.” . . . Mayor Jerramiah T.
Healy — a former Jersey City municipal court judge himself who
appointed the recently-resigned chief judge to her $109,265-a-year
position — said he was shocked and saddened.
NOW IT'S FOUR
Yet
another city judge ducks out as probe goes on
By N.
Clark Judd, Journal Staff Writer
10-4-07 --
Amidst a widening probe into allegations of ticket-fixing in Jersey
City, another municipal court judge has left the bench. . . . Victor
Sison delivered a terse letter to Mayor Jerramiah Healy and Hudson
County Assignment Judge Maurice Gallipoli yesterday morning
announcing he was taking an unpaid leave of absence from his
position immediately. His letter does not offer a reason and calls
to his New York and New Jersey law offices yesterday afternoon were
not returned. . . . Sison joins colleagues Pauline Sica, Erwin Rosen
and Wanda Molina in removing themselves from the bench in the past
two weeks. All the cases involve what has been described as the
improper handling of parking tickets. . . . The New Jersey Law
Journal reported Monday that Gallipoli questioned Sica about tickets
she may have fixed for another judge. Sison is believed to be the
other judge, sources told The Jersey Journal.
September 2007
Court In A 'Fix'
A.G. probes ticket scandal
dogging 2 city judges
By
Michaelangelo Conte, Journal Staff Writer
9-28-07 -- The inquiry into "Ticket-gate"
widened yesterday as the state Attorney General's Office
announced it has launched an investigation into issues leading
to the resignation of Jersey City's chief municipal court judge
who, according to sources, may fixed tickets for a woman she was
romantically involved with. . . . It also came to light
yesterday that another judge has taken an unpaid leave of
absence related to fixing tickets, officials said. . . . Jersey
City Chief Municipal Court Judge Wanda Molina resigned Sept. 20
in the wake of allegations she improperly disposed of parking
tickets issued to her partner, according to sources familiar
with the investigation. . . . Municipal Court Judge Erwin Rosen
took an unpaid leave of absence effective Tuesday as a result of
allegations he "improperly dismissed one of his own parking
tickets," according to the same sources. . . . The Hudson County
Prosecutor's Office had been investigating ticket fixing by
Municipal Court employees, but Hudson County Trial Court
Administrator Joseph Davis confirmed yesterday that the Attorney
General's Office has become the lead agency looking into the
matter.
Case of Pet-Ridden House Nudges Law on Setting Aside Foreclosure
Sales
Henry Gottlieb, New Jersey Law Journal
9-14-07 -- In a rare defeat for caveat
emptor in foreclosure sales, a judge let a winning bidder cancel
the $2.6 million purchase of a house because 142 foul-smelling
dogs and cats -- some living, many dead -- were found on the
premises. . . . Bergen County Superior Court Judge Peter Doyne
ruled that Michael Acciardi of Saddle River, N.J., was relieved
of his obligation to buy the house next door because of
conditions he discovered five days after he won the bid at an
Aug. 10 sheriff's sale. . . . Letting successful bidders wriggle
out of paying for foreclosed property is so uncommon that Doyne
resorted to a 70-year-old precedent to support his Sept. 7
ruling in Wells Fargo Bank v. Philip Tamis,
Ber-F-20770-04. . . . Sheriff's auctions can be set aside when
there is fraud, accident, surprise or irregularity in the sale,
under the hoary Karel v. Davis, 122 N.J. Equity 526 (E&A
1937). . . . Acciardi's lawyer, Gerald Salerno of Hackensack's
Aronsohn Weiner & Salerno, argued the case fit the "surprise"
element because Acciardi discovered from news accounts that the
previous owner had used the house as an ad hoc, perhaps illegal
animal shelter.
Judge Faces Discipline for Disparaging Remark on the Bench
Michael Booth, New Jersey Law Journal
9-12-07 -- Municipal Judge Frank Leanza
admits he shouldn't have labeled a landlord's excuses for
ignoring summonses "a lot of bullshit" but says he was just
overly frustrated with the man he characterized as a "slumlord"
who for years ignored fines and orders to fix his apartment
buildings. . . . During a hearing on Thursday, Leanza, a judge
in Guttenberg, N.J., for 17 years, told the Advisory Committee
on Judicial Conduct that his remark from the bench was spurred
by acute frustration over a man who had contemptuously ignored
court orders to fix his properties or to pay fines. . . . Leanza
told the ACJC that the landlord, Dr. Esmat Zaklama, an
anesthesiologist, had dodged summonses and warrants until he was
arrested on March 7, 2006, and brought before Leanza. At that
point, he had racked up at least $200,000 in fines. . . . Leanza
said Zaklama told him he had not answered the summonses or
warrants because he had been away. That's when Leanza described
the excuse as "bullshit." Leanza, whose private law practice
takes him to various municipalities in Hudson County, told the ACJC he had run
into Zaklama on numerous occasions in town halls. "I knew he
hadn't been away," Leanza said in response to questioning by his
lawyer, Alan Zegas of Chatham, N.J.
Will Americans Rise Up Against The Corrupt Justice System?
By
Bill O'Reilly, Fox News
9-7-07 -- On August 4, three young college
students were murdered in New Jersey by a gang of thugs, which
included two criminal illegal immigrants. Now, the young woman
was nearly killed, her face slashed in that attack. . . .
Reports say Peruvian Jose Carranza, who was out on bail after
being charged with child molestation and assault was the
shooter. The judge who allowed Carranza out on the street is
Thomas Vena who actually cut Carranza's bail in half, allowing
the man to walk out of jail and into the murder zone. Well, the
State of New Jersey investigated Vena and has released this
report. . . . Quote, "Judge Vena's bail determination was made
with knowledge of Carranza's criminal history and the nature of
the charges. And an awareness that the prosecutor had previously
consented to bail of $150,000 with knowledge that the victim's
allegations, included a history of sexual abuse extending over
time and occurring in two municipalities." . . . Nevertheless,
the State of New Jersey has concluded that Judge Vena's bail cut
for Carranza wasn't wrong. But, of course, it was wrong, and so
is New Jersey. Number one, the state ordered the investigating
officer in the case not to take Carranza's illegal status into
account. That is insane. . . . Number two, Vena should have
known Carranza was here illegally and was a chronic criminal.
We're sure the judge did know that. Why would any judge, then,
take the chance of putting a guy like that back on the street?
Doesn't make any sense.
August 2007
N.J. Judge Sued Over Handling of Scratched Maserati Incident
Charles Toutant, New Jersey Law Journal
8-22-07 --When Judge George R. Korpita
emerged from a Rockaway Borough, N.J., restaurant and saw
scratches on his Maserati and Warren Hartzman leaning on it, he
did not respond in a judicial manner, according to a U.S.
District Court suit. . . . Hartzman ended up being criminally
charged with scratching the car, and while the case was pending
on Korpita's docket, the judge pressured Hartzman to pay for the
damage, the complaint says. . . . The suit, filed Aug. 13 in
Newark, N.J., includes a civil rights count under 42 U.S.C.
1983, a deceit count and a malicious abuse of legal process
count against Korpita, who sits in Rockaway Borough. . . .
Hartzman also sued Korpita and the police department for
malicious prosecution. And he claims that Korpita, the borough
and the police intentionally or negligently inflicted emotional
distress, falsely arrested and imprisoned him, and wrongfully
enforced the law. The suit alleges that the police took Hartzman
into custody for several hours without charging him. . . .
Hartzman is seeking declaratory and injunctive relief finding
that Korpita is unfit to serve on the bench and enjoining him
from doing so. In addition, Hartzman is seeking compensatory and
punitive damages. The suit is Hartzman v. Korpita,
07-3848.
N.J. Court: Malpractice Deadline Is Tolled
by New Lawyer's
Advice
Henry Gottlieb, New Jersey Law Journal
8-17-07 --The six-year statute of
limitations on legal malpractice can be a fuzzy concept in
matrimonial cases, and a New Jersey appeals court showed why on
Tuesday. . . . A three-judge panel ruled that a wife who agreed
to an alimony settlement in 1994 could sue for malpractice
almost 10 years later because she did not know she had a case
against her lawyer until another attorney told her so. . . .
Defendant Christine Farrington argued that the statute of
limitations ran out in 2000 -- six years after the client began
feeling disappointed about the settlement and six years after
her accountant allegedly told her the settlement could have been
better. . . . That was enough to start the six-year clock in
1995, a trial judge ruled last year in throwing out the
malpractice case. . . . But the appeals court reinstated the
claim in Viglione v. Farrington, A-3912-05, saying the
cause of action did not accrue when the client had a premonition
that something went wrong. It accrued when another lawyer told
the client she might have a malpractice case.
3rd Circuit: Time to Cure Mortgage Default Ends at Auction
Mary
Pat Gallagher, New Jersey Law Journal
8-10-07 -- New Jersey homeowners facing
foreclosure will have to move faster to cure a mortgage default,
under a federal appeals court decision. . . . The 3rd U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals held that the right to cure ends when
the property is sold at auction, rejecting the owner's argument
that it continues until the deed is delivered to the purchaser.
. . . The ruling in the closely watched case, which drew amici
on both sides, resolves a more than decade-old split among
federal bankruptcy and district judges in New Jersey. . . .
"Having finally been given the opportunity to break what is a
virtual tie between the New Jersey federal courts," the court
held in its Aug. 3 decision that 11 U.S.C. §1322(c)(1) does not
afford the debtor a post-auction right to cure. . . . The
relevant provision, §1322(c)(1), enacted as part of the
Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1994, allows a Chapter 13 debtor to
cure a home mortgage default "until such residence is sold at a
foreclosure sale that is conducted in accordance with applicable
nonbankruptcy law."
N.J. Appeals Court: Client's Illegitimate Purpose Isn't
Necessarily the Lawyer's
Henry Gottlieb, New Jersey Law Journal
|
"This court has just said that a lawyer cannot be held liable for
malicious use of process even though anybody else can be
liable for the very same thing. That's a pretty
outrageous position to take."
Co-counsel Joan Pransky |
8-6-07 -- A New Jersey state appeals court
cleared a law firm of malicious civil prosecution on Wednesday
in a decision that champions the right of lawyers to advocate
zealously even when they know a claim is baseless. . . .
Giordano, Halleran & Ciesla represented a beach club owner in a
failed defamation suit against a neighbor. The neighbor, having
won, countersued the club owner and the Middletown, N.J., firm,
alleging the first suit had no purpose but to stifle her free
speech rights maliciously. . . . The appeals court found,
however, that lawyers cannot be liable for malicious prosecution
unless they are acting for an illegitimate purpose of their own.
And the fact that a client has an illegitimate purpose does not
automatically mean the lawyer does too, the three-judge panel
said in
Lobiondo v. Schwartz, A-4325-04. . . . The
decision "insures that representation will be available when the
client's claim has only marginal merit and may be pursued by the
client for other than legitimate purposes," the court said.
Judges Jack Lintner, George
Seltzer and Christine Miniman, writing per curiam, said they
could find no reported decision on the issue. Their own opinion
is not published either, but lawyers in the case say it should
be.
New Jersey Upholds Fee
Arbitration Gag Rule
HALT
ejournal
Last
month, the New Jersey Supreme Court rejected a proposal that would
have allowed consumers in the state to speak publicly about the
bar's lawyer-client fee arbitration system, which was established to
help clients resolve fee disputes with attorneys. The justices
decided not to adopt written recommendations from HALT and the
court's own Professional Responsibility Rules Committee to
let clients comment about the nature of the fee dispute, the
arbitration process and the result.
The
Court provided no reason for maintaining the gag on clients in fee
arbitrations, but lawyer groups across the state, including the
State Bar and county bar associations, had launched vocal opposition
to the proposed change.
"The old
boys' network is at it again," stated HALT Senior Counsel Suzanne M.
Blonder. "By muzzling consumers from disclosing information
about their fee disputes or the arbitration system, the local bar
protects itself from scrutiny and regulation."
The
impetus for the proposed change came from R.M. v. Supreme Court, 185
N.J. 208 (2005), in which HALT helped convince the New Jersey
Supreme Court to abolish its gag rule in lawyer discipline cases on
First Amendment grounds.
By
refusing to offer participants in the fee arbitration system similar
latitude for public comment, HALT believes the Court sends a mixed
message to consumers: that they can speak freely when they file an
ethics complaint against a lawyer but must remain silent when they
challenge his fees.
"Out of
an abundance of caution, New Jersey consumers may restrain their
speech in both contexts, or worse yet, get held in contempt of court
for inadvertently violating the muddled fee arbitration gag rule
because they were unclear about the circumstances under which they
could speak freely," explained Blonder. "Either way, the
public is left frustrated with a system that they view as already
stacked against them."
HALT's
2007 Fee Arbitration Report Card, to be released next month, will
give New Jersey significant demerits for its decision to uphold its
gag rule.
Click
here for the New Jersey
Supreme Court order.
Click
here for HALT's comments to
the Court.
Californian Can Be Sued in N.J. for Alleged Libel on Internet
Henry Gottlieb, New Jersey Law Journal
8-6-07 -- New Jersey's long-arm
jurisdiction over Internet disputes just got a little longer.
. . . A state appeals court ruled
Thursday that a California resident accused of making libelous
statements in a Web-based forum can be sued in New Jersey
because the material was "targeted" toward a New Jersey
audience. . . . Many state courts have ruled that
posting libelous material in open forums that can be seen
everywhere does not vest jurisdiction in the victim's state.
Where the libeler posts the comments is what counts. . . . But
in
Goldhaber v. Kohlenberg, A-5114-05, the allegedly
libelous material was not only directed at a New Jersey
resident; it included disparaging or insulting references to a
town, a police department and the New Jersey resident's
neighbors. . . . Given such targeting, the
defendant had reason to foresee he would be hauled into court in
New Jersey, Judge Dorothea Wefing said, joined by Judges
Lorraine Parker and Joseph Yannotti.
Former
State Commerce Commission Chief of Staff
Lesly Devereaux Found Guilty of Corruption
Division of Criminal Justice,
Office of The Attorney General, - Anne Milgram, Attorney
General
Division of Criminal Justice, - Gregory A. Paw, Director
-- 609-292-4791
8-1-07 --
Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal Justice Director Gregory
A. Paw announced that a jury today convicted former state Commerce
Commission chief of staff Lesly Devereaux of official misconduct for
illegally using Commerce employees to run her private law practice
from the Commission’s offices.
Devereaux, 49, of Piscataway, was found guilty by a Mercer County jury of a second-degree
charge of official misconduct and a third-degree charge of
misapplication of government property related to her misuse of state
employees to run her private law practice while at Commerce. Deputy
Attorneys General Robert Czepiel and Anthony Picione prosecuted the
case before Superior Court Judge Maryann K. Bielamowicz.
Devereaux faces up to 10 years in
state prison and a criminal fine of $150,000 on the second-degree
charge. She faces a maximum sentence on the third-degree charge of
five years in state prison and a criminal fine of $15,000. Devereaux
was found not guilty on two counts of the 16-count indictment
obtained by the Division of Criminal Justice, and the jury was
unable to reach a verdict on the remaining 12 counts, which involve
allegations that Devereaux illegally hired family members as
commission consultants and created false documents to cover up her
conduct. The state has three weeks to decide whether to retry the
defendant on the charges on which the jury deadlocked.
July 2007
Private Communities Can Regulate Residents' Speech,
N.J. High Court Rules
Michael Booth, New Jersey Law Journal
7-30-07 --New Jersey's Supreme Court,
easing up on its propensity for imposing constitutional
obligations on property owners, has ruled that private
residential communities may regulate expressive activity within
their borders. . . . The justices held Thursday that a
homeowners' association's rules regulating placement of
political signs, charging rent for use of a community room and
setting an editorial policy for its community newspaper were
reasonable restrictions on time, place and manner of speech. . .
. "[We] conclude that in balancing plaintiffs' expressional
rights against the Association's private property interest, the
Association's policies do not violate the free speech and right
of assembly clauses of the New Jersey Constitution," the
justices held unanimously in Committee for a Better Twin
Rivers v. Twin Rivers Homeowners Association, A-118-122-05.
Court Upholds Curbs on Signs in New Jersey
By
Richard G. Jones, NY Times
7-27-07 --
In a ruling that could have implications far beyond New Jersey, the
State Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the right of homeowners’
associations to restrict the posting of political signs and other
forms of constitutionally protected speech, as long as the
restrictions are not “unreasonable or oppressive.” . . . “We
conclude that in balancing plaintiffs’ expressional rights against
the association’s private property rights, the association’s
policies do not violate the free-speech and right-of-assembly
clauses of the New Jersey Constitution,” the court ruled
unanimously. . . . The case is rooted in the lawns of Twin Rivers, a
planned unit development of apartments, condominiums, town houses
and single-family houses that is home to about 10,000 people in the
central New Jersey township of
East Windsor. Margaret and Haim
Bar-Akiva challenged whether the Twin Rivers Homeowners’ Association
could restrict their putting political signs on their lawn. . . .
The homeowners’ association rules in Twin Rivers did not forbid all
political signs, but allowed signs only in flower beds and windows.
You can access today's ruling of
the Supreme Court of New Jersey at
this link.
Justice chided for intervening in son's dispute
7-20-07 --
(AP), USA Today — A New Jersey Supreme Court censured one of its own
justices Friday for violating judicial ethics when he interceded
in a dispute between his teenage son and a high school football
teammate. . . . In disciplining Justice Roberto A. Rivera-Soto,
the state's highest court said his conduct "created a risk that
the prestige and power of his judicial office might influence
and advance a private matter." . . . The court adopted the
findings and recommendation of its panel on judicial conduct. It
could have removed Rivera-Soto from the bench, suspended him or
issued a reprimand. . . . Rivera-Soto's lawyer, Bruce P. McMoran,
did not immediately return a call seeking comment. . . .
Rivera-Soto apologized last month, admitting in a letter to the
conduct panel that some of his actions created an "appearance of
impropriety." He wrote that "at no time did I intend to use my
office to influence anyone."
N.J. Supreme Court: Lawyer Fee Arbitrations Stay Private
In
separate action, justices order review of multijurisdictional
practice
Charles
Toutant, New Jersey Law Journal
7-20-07 --
The New Jersey Supreme Court has rejected a proposed plan to open
fee disputes between lawyers and their clients to public scrutiny. .
. . The justices decided not to adopt the recommendation of their
Professional Responsibility Rules Committee to lift the gag of the
current rule, R. 1:20A-5, which prohibits parties to fee arbitration
proceedings from speaking publicly about them without approval of
the Disciplinary Review Board or the court. . . . The PRRC suggested
letting grievants comment about the nature of the fee dispute, the
arbitration process and any result. Once the grievant spoke
publicly, the lawyer could do the same, according to the proposal. .
. . The court said "No" in a
notice to the bar issued Monday. The court gave no
reason, but there had been vocal opposition to the proposal from the
State Bar Association and the Bergen and Middlesex county bars.
Court: NJ man can't recoup child support for another man's son
By
Rebecca Santana, Associated Press Writer
7-18-07 --
In what it described as a "sad, heartbreaking" case, the state
Supreme Court has ruled that a North Jersey man cannot recoup
child support payments he made to care for a son he later found
out was not his own. . . . The man called "Roy," who, like all
the people in the court case was identified by a pseudonym, was
told in 1999 by his ex-wife "Bonnie" that their youngest son was
actually the child of "Patrick" _ the boy's godfather with whom
she'd been having an affair. . . . The next year, "Roy" decided
to sue "Patrick" for reimbursement of child support he had paid
to take care of the child, "Darren." . . . A lower court sided
with "Roy" and ordered the biological father to pay the child
support, a decision he appealed. The Appellate Court again sided
with "Roy," and it was appealed to the Supreme Court. . . . In
its unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that "Roy" was not
entitled to a child support reimbursement because under the
state's Parentage Act claims must be filed before a child turns
23 years old.
N.J. Ethics Panel Finds Judge Abused Office by Interceding in
Son's Dispute, Urges Censure
Charles Toutant, New Jersey Law Journal
7-13-07 --New
Jersey's high tribunal for judicial ethics transgressions says
censure is the appropriate discipline for State Supreme Court
Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto for misusing his office to advance a
personal interest. . . . The Advisory Committee on Judicial
Conduct, in a presentment issued Wednesday, found Rivera-Soto
violated canons of ethics and a court rule by speaking to
police, prosecutors and court officials about a criminal case in
which his son was the complaining witness. . . . Acknowledging
the justice's actions were motivated by concern for his family,
the ACJC said his conduct nonetheless created the appearance of
impropriety. . . . "He believed that he had sufficiently and
efficiently neutralized or removed his office as a circumstance
that could have an impact on the proceedings," the committee
said In the Matter of Roberto Rivera-Soto, ACJC 2007-097. "He
now appreciates, however, the untoward risk that his actions
could have been misconstrued and seen as advancing his personal
interests."
Click for access to the
committee's presentment and/or
justice's response.
Widow ordered to pay ex-suspect 50 years later
|
VoL Asks?
So
why is O.J. Simpson responsible for paying over $30M. He
was acquitted of murder in his criminal trial! |
Court rules wife of victim must
give man acquitted of murder $150,000
7-13-07 --Almost
50 years after a police officer was slain, his widow has been
ordered to pay $150,000 to the man acquitted of the murder. . .
. Elizabeth Bernoskie says she doesn't have the money. Her
lawyer calls the court ruling Tuesday "a cruel, torturous
experience." . . . Charles Bernoskie, a police officer in Rahway
with six young children, was shot to death while on duty in
1958, but it wasn't until 1999 that anyone was charged with the
murder. . . . Robert Zarinsky, already in prison for the 1969
murder of a 17-year-old girl and a suspect in the killings of
other teenage girls, was linked to the Bernoskie killing by his
sister, Judith Zarinsky Sapsa. She told authorities that when
she was 16 Zarinsky and a cousin said they had killed a police
officer during a botched robbery. . . . The cousin, Theodore
Schiffer, corroborated her story, admitted a role in the killing
and served three years in prison. . . . Zarinsky, however, was
acquitted. Jurors believed he did it but felt prosecutors did
not build a strong enough case to prove it, the foreman said. .
. . Elizabeth Bernoskie sued Zarinsky for wrongful death and was
awarded $9.5 million in 2003. Zarinsky posted his $150,000
mutual fund as a down payment.
Bernoskie v. Zarinsky Opinion
Frequent Filer's 'Fraud on the Court' Found Actionable
Law schoool graduate previously
denied entry to Pennsylvania and New Jersey Bars due to ethical
breaches
Michael Booth, New Jersey Law Journal
7-2-07 --
Robert Triffin, who makes a living of buying bounced checks and
trying to recover as a holder in due course, has resorted to the
courts so often and so perniciously that a New Jersey appeals panel
evidently feels enough is enough. . . . Though finding his
fabrication of check assignments did not make Triffin liable for
common law fraud, the judges said his actions might constitute a
fraud on the court itself. On Thursday, they remanded the case,
Triffin v. Automatic Data Processing Inc., A-6986-03, to the trial
court for a hearing on the possible imposition of sanctions. . . .
The court noted that Triffin's conduct is under review by the Essex
County, N.J., prosecutor and the state attorney general and that
"all parties defending future claims by plaintiff on purchased
dishonored checks are on notice to scrupulously explore the
legitimacy of any tendered assignments."
June 2007
State Senate OKs Milgram as next attorney general
By Tom
Baldwin, Gannett State Bureau
|
Associated Press file |
The
state Senate approved Anne Milgram as attorney general by a 36-0
vote Thursday. . . . Career prosecutor Anne Milgram, who pursued
crooks into the streets of New York and human-traffickers into the
back alleys of the world, won confirmation Thursday as the state's
new attorney general. . . . "Great," said Milgram after the 11-0
vote by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent her
nomination by Gov. Jon S. Corzine to the full Senate where she got a
36-0 approval. . . . Milgram, raised in East Brunswick and now
residing in Princeton, has been first assistant attorney general to Stuart Rabner who won
confirmation to be chief justice of the state Supreme Court
Thursday. . . . "Filling his (Rabner's) shoes in the attorney
general's office will not be easy, but Anne Milgram has built a
career in law-enforcement, fighting for equal justice under the law,
particularly for the most exploited and vulnerable," said Gov. Jon
S. Corzine. . . . "I am hopeful that you will stay there," Sen. John
Adler, D-Camden, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, told the
nominee -- the state's fifth attorney general since 2001 -- who
Adler told to "get the best deal for the taxpayers."
Senatorial
courtesy only in N.J.
Critics call quaint custom
impediment to good government
The
Associated Press
6-20-07 --
The dispute that stalled Gov. Corzine's nomination of state
Attorney General Stuart Rabner as state Supreme Court chief
justice has drawn attention to a quirky New Jersey tradition
known as senatorial courtesy, which gives state senators
unfettered discretion to block nominations. . . . It mirrors a
practice used at the federal level but is unique to the Garden
State, according to the New Jersey State Bar Association. . . .
"It feeds into how people tend to think the worst about politics
in New Jersey," said David Rebovich, a Rider University political scientist.
. . . Corzine nominated Rabner to be the state's new Supreme
Court chief justice on June 4, but Sen. Nia Gill, D-Essex, used
her unwritten authority to block his nomination, though she
never explained why. . . . Senatorial courtesy isn't in the
constitution, nor do procedures outline it. The state Supreme
Court in 1993 declined to rule on it, and the Bar Association
found the practice "unlike that in place in any other state,"
decrying its lack of criteria. . . . "It's a reality of the
political process in New Jersey," said Lynn Newsome,
the association's president. "We just want to see it used
responsibly and properly." . . . Senate President Richard J.
Codey said it's here to stay. . . . "We have the strongest
governor in the country, and this allows for, hopefully, a
balancing of that power," said Codey, D-Essex. . . . A form of
senatorial courtesy is used in the U.S. Senate, though
supposedly not for Supreme Court nominees. . . . Corzine was a
U.S. senator from 2001 through 2005. He opposed New
Jersey-native Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court but
did not block it.
Lawyer facing lewdness charge keeps ethics post
By
Kibret Markos, Staff Writer
6-20-07 -- A
Hackensack lawyer remains vice president of the Bergen County Bar
Association and chairman of a regional state ethics panel while
facing charges of exposing himself in public. . . . As is common
with less serious crimes such as lewdness, Donald M. Onorato will
enter the Pretrial Intervention program, a form of probation
available for certain first-time offenders, said Bergen County
Prosecutor John L. Molinelli. A court appearance is scheduled for
July 10 in Hackensack. . . . Superior Court Judge William C. Meehan
has also placed a condition that requires Onorato, 47, to resign
from the bar association if he is to be accepted into the pretrial
program, Molinelli said. . . . It wasn't clear Tuesday whether he
has accepted.
City lawyer charged in violence
By
Michaelangelo Conte, Journal Staff Writer
6-13-07 --
An attorney for the City of Jersey City was arrested twice on
domestic violence charges this week after allegedly beating and
choking his domestic violence counselor girlfriend, officials
said. . . . Jersey City Assistant Corporation Counsel Henry
Derek Edley, 57, of Seventh Street in Downtown Jersey City, was
arrested hours after an incident at his girlfriend's Laidlaw
Avenue home Sunday at 1:09 a.m., officials said. . . . Before his arrest he allegedly made a
threatening call to the 38-year-old woman that was recorded on
her voice mail and given to police, officials said. When Edley
got out of the lockup Monday morning about 7 he was arrested
again in connection with the threatening call, officials said.
The Full Mathesius
6-11-07 --
Editor's Note: For many sitting
judges, the idea of publicly criticizing justices of the New
Jersey Supreme Court or the operation of the courts is probably
tantamount to blasphemy. That's what makes so extraordinary,
perhaps unprecedented, the "reflections" by Mercer County Judge
Bill Mathesius - the complete text of which follows - and the
broadsides he hurls at the justices, the judiciary and various
aspects of the court system. Previously disciplined by the high
court, he says judges in New Jersey effectively are denied
freedom of speech - though he himself has no intention of
keeping his mouth - or his keyboard - quiet.
|
 |
|
Judge Bill Mathesius |
Reflections of a
disreputer
(Guaranteed: 85% of this story
is 100% true)
By
Bill Mathesius, J.S.C.
The decision in In Re Mathesius
was delivered: I was "suspended from the performance of [my]
judicial duties, without pay, for a period of thirty days. . ."
While reducing the proposed preposterous penalty of suspension
for six months to an only ridiculous 30 days, the Supreme Court
invited me to take the "opportunity to reflect on [my] position
of authority and the manner in which [I exercise] that position
of authority." Ever striving to please, I welcomed the
invitation. I removed to a remote and undisclosed location to
encourage contemplation and reflection. To provide further
catalyst to my reflective capacities, I subsisted on a Zen
macrobiotic vegetarian diet, an occasional leaf or two of
organic radicchio and Evian water, foraging as best I could for
native fruits and nuts. The occasional tuna sushi was like gold.
I report herewith the product of that reflection:
The Full Mathesius in PDF
Download the complete text of Judge Bill Mathesius'
"reflections"
N.J. Justice Admits Ethics Infraction Stemming From Involvement
in Son's Dispute
Mary Pat
Gallagher, New Jersey Law Journal
6-6-07 --
New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto admitted on
Friday that he created an appearance of impropriety by contacting
school, police and court authorities in a dispute involving his son,
but denied any deliberate misconduct. . . . In a letter to the
Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct, he said that in order to
"prevent any further harm to the court's reputation" he would waive
a formal hearing and stipulate that the charges against him be
decided on the basis of the investigatory record and his statement
in lieu of formal testimony. . . . "I deeply regret that my actions
in defense of my son have raised questions about my integrity and
have created the potential to undermine the public's trust and
confidence in the court," Rivera-Soto wrote, adding he was
"profoundly sorry" for his actions and their effect. . . . But he
did not back off from the position, asserted in his May 18 answer,
that he sought no preferential treatment when he pressured
Haddonfield Township school officials to act, called the town police
chief's cell phone, reached out to a prosecutor and two judges and
handed his business card to a court employee.
To read Justice Roberto
Rivera-Soto’s response to the
judicial misconduct charges
click here.
N.J. Judge Erred in Sitting on Case With Wife as a Juror, Ethics
Panel Finds
Mary Pat Gallagher, New Jersey Law Journal
6-6-07 --
A New Jersey judge improperly presided at a criminal trial in which
his wife was an alternate juror, but in view of the Code of Judicial
Conduct's lack of clear guidance, he should not be disciplined, says
a state Supreme Court committee. . . . The Advisory Committee on
Judicial Conduct, in an opinion released June 1, found that New
Jersey Superior Court Judge Andrew Smithson acted in good faith but
contrary to the spirit of Canon 2 of the code, which says judges
should avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety. . . .
"The committee believes that the uniqueness of your relationship
raised the distinct possibility, if not probability, that Mrs.
Smithson would be viewed differently by the other jury members," and
that her service as a juror "created a risk of improper influence on
the other members of the jury, which justified and required her
exclusion for cause," wrote the committee's chairman, Alan Handler,
a retired New Jersey Supreme Court justice.
Property rights endangered
Editorial
By
Mike Presutti
6-04-07 --
When reading a recent ju dicial decision that could implicate
regulation of nearly 40 percent of our state's land mass, one
cannot help but think of Aesop's fabled eagle that was plucked
from flight by a hunter's arrow only to find, on his descent
back to earth, his own plumes at the end of the arrow. . . .
When we the people act in a collective manner with the perceived
interests of the common good, we must give great thought to
possible unintended consequences. The light of history must
guide our actions and temper our zeal to legislate away all of
society's problems. Every student of history knows the plight of
some well-intentioned legislation that judicial interpretation
or political expedience made unrecognizable, even to its
authors. So often, judicial precedent breaks in upon original
intent and sets yet another benchmark to break in upon. You do
not need a jurist doctorate to understand how this works, you
need only know how a ratchet works.
May 2007
Faulting Lawyers, N.J. Judge Voids Congoleum's Pact With Asbestos
Claimants
Henry
Gottlieb, New Jersey Law Journal
5-25-07 --
A New Jersey judge has ruled that
Congoleum Corp.'s insurance carriers don't have to fund a $500
million settlement with the company's asbestos claimants because
it was a bad-faith deal engineered by lawyers acting
collusively. . . . The settlement had been the centerpiece of a
prepackaged Chapter 11 petition designed to protect the
Mercerville, N.J., floor-products company from claims arising from its use of
asbestos before 1983. . . . But the settlement was reached
without the consent of the insurance companies that were to fund
it and so was not reasonable or entered in good faith, Mercer
County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Stroumtsos Jr. ruled on May
18. . . . The settlement was negotiated in 2002 and 2003 by
Congoleum's bankruptcy firm, Gilbert Heintz & Randolph in
Washington, D.C, and attorneys representing a majority of the
potential asbestos claimants, Perry Weitz of Weitz & Luxenberg
in New York and Joseph Rice of Motley Rice in Mount Pleasant,
S.C.
Supreme Court justice guarded after threats from talk host
Posted by Gloucester County Times
5-24-07 --
Washington Township police
may have been told to keep an eye on the home of New Jersey
justice John Wallace after a self-proclaimed "pro-white" radio
host from
North Jersey disclosed the home
addresses of members of the state's Supreme Court. . . .
According to the Newark Star-Ledger, radio personality Hal
Turner, who claims an audience of skinheads, neo-Nazis and
Klansmen encouraged his listeners to call, write and visit the
homes of four of the justices, including the then-chief justice,
to show that "they can be gotten to." . . . In his Oct. 25
broadcast, hours after the justices ruled that gay couples are
entitled to form marriage-like civil unions, Turner said "And if
some very angry people were to go down to some of those judges'
houses and tune them up, oh sure, they might get thrown in jail,
but that would send a shock wave to the rest of those
(expletive) in black robes that they can be gotten to."
Judge Denies Pushing Anybody Around Over Son's Problems With
Bully
New
York Lawyer, By Mary Pat Gallagher, New Jersey Law Journal
5-24-07 --
Answering
charges that he abused his office's power and prestige
to influence a school dispute that led to a court case involving
his son, Supreme Court Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto said that "he
insisted at all times that . . . the matter be treated in the
ordinary course." . . . Rivera-Soto filed his answer Friday to
an Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct complaint charging him
with violating Judicial Canons 1, 2A and 2B, and Rule
2:15-8(a)(6), barring conduct that brings the judicial office
into disrepute. In the Matter of Roberto Rivera-Soto,
ACJC 2007-097. . . . The complaint, filed May 11, charged that
Rivera-Soto touted his position as a justice when he contacted
school, police and court authorities on behalf of his son,
Christian, a 15-year-old sophomore at Haddonfield Township High
School, who was allegedly being harassed or hit by a teammate on
his football team. . . . In his answer, Rivera-Soto admitted
most of the complaint's factual allegations but said some
actions were taken out of context. For instance, he said, in
telling the football coach about his experience as a judge
making credibility determinations, he was only suggesting how
the coach should assess denials by the teammate, a senior
captain referred to as C.L. . . . He said he called the police
chief, prior to going with his son to the police station to file
a juvenile delinquent complaint against C.L., only to find out
how such cases are handled. . . . He gave a court employee his
business card - which identified him as a Supreme Court justice
- so that she could reach him during business hours, he said.
N.J. Supreme Court: Dream-Refreshed Recall of Abuse Needs No
Expert
Michael Booth, New Jersey Law Journal
5-24-07 --
Expert testimony is not
required when a plaintiff bases a child sexual abuse claim on
recalled memories, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
. . . Rather, a jury should be allowed to assess the credibility
of the plaintiff's testimony in the same way it would any other
lay witness, the court decided unanimously in Phillips v.
Gelpke, A-1-06. . . . Production of an expert is not needed
to explain to the jury how the plaintiff recalled her past
sexual abuse, Justice Jaynee LaVecchia wrote. "[T]here was no
prodding of plaintiff's memory that necessitated an expert's
explanation." . . . The court reversed an Appellate Division
decision that said the plaintiff, Melissa Phillips, should have
been required to produce an expert to attest to the credibility
of her sudden memory recall. She claimed that the memories were
reawakened by a dream, without the aid of professional therapy.
. . . The court's ruling does not reinstate the $750,000 a
Somerset County, N.J., jury awarded Phillips after finding that
her grandmother's son-in-law, John Gelpke, sexually abused her
when she was between the ages of 3 and 8. Instead, the matter
goes back to the Appellate Division for consideration of other
issues raised in the earlier appeal but not yet addressed.
Could Lance be headed to the top court this time?
By
Wally Edge
Tags:
Roberto Rivera-Soto,
Zulima Farber,
Leonard Lance,
Wilfredo Caraballo,
5-15-07 --
Several public officials
today expressed surprise at the complaint filed against Supreme
Court Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto, but legal insiders for years
have considered the McGreevey-appointee has one of the
Judiciary’s most narcissistic jurists. Even prior to his
confirmation to the bench, his former adversaries were quoted in
an April 2004 Star-Ledger profile describing him as “pompous,”
“arrogant and abrasive,” and questioned whether he had the
temperament for the post. . . . Rivera Soto was Governor James
E. McGreevey’s third choice to replace Justice Peter J. Verniero
who had retired before his term ended anticipating McGreevey
would not renominate him to the bench. Both U.S. District Court
Judge Jose Linares and U.S. Appeals Court Judge Julio Fuentes --
father of Associate Counsel for the Assembly Majority Karina
Fuentes -- turned down McGreevey’s offers for the post.
N.J. Justice Charged With Misusing Office to Help Out Bullied
Son
Mary
Pat Gallagher, New Jersey Law Journal
5-14-07 --
New Jersey Supreme Court
Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto has been charged with abusing his
position to influence police actions and court proceedings over
the alleged bullying of his teenage son by a high school
football teammate. . . . The Advisory Committee on Judicial
Conduct filed a formal complaint on Friday, In the Matter of
Roberto Rivera-Soto, ACJC 2007-097. . . . Rivera-Soto allegedly
interceded on behalf of his son, Christian, a 15-year-old
sophomore at Haddonfield Township High School, who was being
harassed and/or hit by a teammate. . . . Rivera-Soto complained
to school personnel after the teammate, denoted as C.L. in the
complaint, got off with a warning. Things escalated after
Christian's mouth was injured in a head-butting incident at
practice on Sept. 28, 2006, and the school deemed it accidental.
. . . Rivera-Soto allegedly threatened to go to the state police
and file a criminal complaint against the vice principal and
football coaches personally. He then called the Haddonfield,
N.J., police chief on the chief's cell phone about pressing
charges against C.L. When an officer showed up at his home,
Rivera-Soto handed him a card with his job title and said he
wanted C.L. arrested that night, the ACJC alleged.
Formal Complaint In The Matter Of Roberto Rivera-Soto
,Justice Of The Supreme Court :
NJ Supreme Court Justice Accused of Ethics Violation
By
Anthony Ramirez
5-14-07 --
Like any father, Roberto
A. Rivera-Soto loves his son and does not want him to get hurt.
. . . But Mr. Rivera-Soto is a New Jersey Supreme Court justice,
and he now faces an ethics complaint charging that he abused his
position when he contacted several local officials in an attempt
to help his son, who was having trouble with a teammate on his
high school football team. . . . In a rare action against a
member of New Jersey’s highest court, the state’s Advisory
Committee on Judicial Conduct, which filed the complaint on
Friday, accused Justice Rivera-Soto of violating court rules,
including engaging in conduct “prejudicial to the administration
of justice that brings the judicial office into disrepute.” . .
. After the justice responds to the charges, the commission will
hold a hearing. It can recommend a reprimand or the stronger
condemnation of censure, suspension from office or outright
removal. . . . If Justice Rivera-Soto, 53, rejects the
recommended penalty, he can appeal to his six colleagues on the
State Supreme Court. . . . His lawyer, Bruce P. McMoran, said
the justice broke no rules and acted reasonably. “He’s a father,
and he acted like a father,” Mr. McMoran said. “His son had a
problem with another student in school, who is older. And he
dealt with it as any father would have, under the
circumstances.” . . . The trouble began on the playing field of
Haddonfield Memorial High School, where one of the justice’s
sons, who was not identified in the committee papers, is a
sophomore and member of the varsity football team. He clashed
with another student, also unnamed, who is a senior and captain
of the football team.
Formal Complaint In The Matter Of Roberto Rivera-Soto ,Justice
Of The Supreme Court :
Judges in trouble
By
Wally Edge
Tags:
Robert Clifford,
Florence Schreiber Powers,
Rosemarie Williams,
5-14-07 --
In February 1990, the New
Jersey Supreme Court publicly reprimanded Associate Justice
Robert Clifford, who was convicted of drunk driving. The court
said that ''a public reprimand is essential both to vindicate
the interests of the judiciary and to maintain the public's
confidence in it.'' . . . Four months earlier, Clifford was
stopped for driving while intoxicated in Princeton Borough. He
refused a Breathalyzer test and was taken to the local police
station. Later, he pleaded guilty and lost his license for one
year. . . . Clifford served on the state Supreme Court from 1973
to 1994. He was arrested again for DWI in 2000 when his vehicle
struck a small bridge in his hometown, Bernards. Because
Clifford's earlier conviction was more than ten years ago, the
law allowed him to be viewed as a first-time offender. According
to the Star-Ledger, "five state judges have been sanctioned by
the Supreme Court following drunken driving convictions. Three
were publicly reprimanded, one was censured and one was
suspended for 60 days after he was convicted of a second
driving-while-intoxicated charge."
Big Bad Bills: Padding Hours and Double Billing
Clients On the Rise
New York
Lawyer, By Lisa Brennan, New Jersey Law Journal
5-10-07 --More
lawyers than a decade ago are padding their bills with unnecessary
hours or billing two clients for the same chunk of time, a law
professor's survey finds. . . . "The attorneys who responded to the
recent survey seemed, on the whole, to be less ethical in their
billing practices than those [that] responded to the earlier
surveys," says William George Ross. . . . Ross, of Cumberland School
of Law in Birmingham, Ala., did the survey to update his book, The
Honest Hour: The Ethics of Time-Based Billing by Attorneys,
published in 1996. He randomly polled 5,000 associates and partners
at firms of various sizes across the country. . . . Of the 251
respondents, 54.6 percent said they sometimes pad their billable
hours by performing unnecessary work, up from 40.3 percent of
respondents to his nearly identical survey 11 years ago. . . .
Two-thirds of the respondents had specific knowledge of bill padding
by themselves or other attorneys, the same percentage as in the
earlier study. . . . Ross also found an increase in the percentage
of attorneys who bill two clients at the same time: 34.7 percent,
compared with 23 percent in 1996. . . . Typical examples are doing
work for one client while waiting in court for another client's case
to be heard or working on one client's file while en route on an
airplane to see another client. . . . Conversely, the number of
lawyers who believe double billing is unethical fell, from 64.7
percent in 1996 to only 51.8 percent in 2007, Ross found. Those who
found double billing to be an acceptable practice, however, said it
was essential to inform the client of the practice upfront.
The survey appears on the Web site:
www.williamgeorgeross.com
April 2007
HALT Urges
N.J. to Strengthen Lawyer Fraud Compensation
HALT.Org
4-24-07 -- New
Jersey's Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection is responsible for
compensating legal consumers for money stolen or misappropriated by
a dishonest attorney. . . . Unfortunately, the Fund will only
consider for payment claims arising from an attorney's dishonest
conduct "provided that...the attorney has been suspended, disbarred
or placed in disability inactive status, has resigned with prejudice
or has pleaded guilty to, or been convicted of embezzlement or
misappropriation of money" (New Jersey Rules of Court 1:28-3). Yet
in 2005, only 1.5 percent of all complaints of misconduct to New
Jersey's attorney discipline system resulted in the attorney being
removed from the practice of law for any period of time. . . .
HALT is urging the Lawyer's Fund for Client Protection to adopt a
standard for considering compensation claims similar
to Pennsylvania, which declares that "imposition of
discipline...shall not be a prequisite for favorable action with
respect to a claim" (Pennsylvania Rules of Disciplinary Enforcement,
Rule 521). HALT also points to Maryland's leadership, which
requires "as a condition precedent to the payment of any
claim...that final action be taken on the [disciplinary] grievance"
but doesn't mandate that a particular disciplinary outcome is
required for a favorable compensation decision (Regulations of the
Client Protection Fund of the Bar of Maryland, Section C). . . .
"The function of client protection is best served by providing every
victim of a dishonest attorney the full opportunity to seek
restitution. New Jersey should ensure that no defrauded legal
consumer is barred outright from receiving much-needed
compensation," stated HALT Senior Counsel Suzanne M. Blonder
|
David Johnson
Image: Carmen Natale |
Fewer Lawyers Are Disciplined,
Report Shows
By
Charles Toutant, New Jersey Law Journal
Fewer New Jersey attorneys were
disciplined last year than the year before, continuing a four-year
decline in sanctions for ethics breaches, a new report says. . . .
Total disciplines dropped by 21.1 percent, to 142 from 180 in 2005.
And they are down 47.2 percent from 2002, when an all-time high of
269 lawyers were cited for unethical conduct. . . . The downward
trend is reflected in final disciplines as well as in temporary
sanctions, according to the 2006 State of the Attorney Disciplinary
System Report released last Wednesday. . . . The decrease in final
disciplines over the four-year period correlates with an increase in
diversionary treatment for attorneys charged with minor misconduct
that would likely warrant no more than an admonition, wrote David
Johnson Jr., director of the Office of Attorney Ethics. . . .
Diversionary treatment allows an attorney to admit a mistake and
take remedial steps over a period of time, generally not exceeding
six months. If the program is successfully completed, the underlying
grievance is dismissed with no record of discipline. . . .
Diversions increased by 25 percent from a low of 51 in 2003 to 68 in
2004, then by 22.7 percent to 88 in 2005. There was a slight 6
percent decrease in 2006, but diversions stayed high at 83. . . .
Johnson offered no other reasons for the decline in disciplinary
actions. The disciplinary system did show a 3.1 percent drop in new
cases docketed in 2006, but at the same time, the number of formal
complaints and other charging documents went up 6.6 percent, to 241
from 226.
N.J. Court Widens Standard for Legal Malpractice Claims
Michael
Booth, New Jersey Law Journal
4-19-07 --
A legal malpractice claim is not
necessarily undermined by settlement of the underlying case, a New
Jersey appeals court ruled Monday, poking a hole in a 2-year-old
doctrine barring such litigation. . . . A three-judge panel held, in
Prospect Rehabilitation Services Inc. v. Squitieri,
A-2991-05, that the malpractice suit should not be dismissed if the
plaintiff claims the settlement's terms were neither satisfactory
nor fair. . . . Monday's ruling points a way around the state
Supreme Court's holding in Puder v. Buechel, 183 N.J.
428 (2005), which barred a client from suing her lawyer for botching
her case because a second lawyer had negotiated a favorable
settlement for her. . . . Puder was based on the court's public
policy against permitting double recovery, but the critical factor
was the plaintiff's expressed satisfaction with the settlement.
Since settlements rarely make clients whole, legal malpractice
lawyers predicted Puder was permeable if different facts presented
themselves.
'Go Directly To Jail' Rule for DWIs Irks N.J. Bar
Charles
Toutant, New Jersey Law Journal
4-13-07 --
The New Jersey State Bar Association
is hollering mad at a policy, enforced by state court regulators,
requiring third-time drunken-driving offenders to be hauled off to
jail the minute they're convicted. . . . In a resolution made public
last Tuesday, the Bar said the Administrative Office of the Courts
lacks legal authority to impose such a policy. And what's more, the
Bar said, the directive exemplifies a pattern of "overarching and
unauthorized exercise of control by the AOC." . . . The resolution was approved by the Bar's trustees in February
and sent to Acting Administrative Director of the Courts Philip
Carchman, who had announced the lockup policy in an Oct. 25
memorandum to municipal judges. . . . Bar trustee Paris Eliades, who
chaired the ad hoc committee that studied the memo and recommended
the Bar's action, says, "It's an issue of ever-increasing concern
and it seemed the right opportunity to bring it up. We're hoping
this creates an open dialogue between the Bar and the
AOC."
Parenting Coordinator Pilot Program
Program Guidelines and Related Material
The Supreme Court recently approved
the operational details of a Parenting Coordinator Pilot Program for
implementation in four vicinages – Bergen, Middlesex, Morris/Sussex,
and Union. Those details are set out in the attached set of Program
Guidelines.
Also attached here are a standardized order of appointment; a
parent coordinator registration form; and a standardized case
information form. (pdf file)
The Pilot Program Guidelines were
drawn in substantial part from rule amendments proposed by the
2004-2006 Family Practice Committee. The Court declined to adopt
those rule proposals at that time, preferring instead to test the
parenting coordinator concept in a pilot program.
As described in the Overview section
of the Program Standards, “[a] Parenting Coordinator is a qualified
neutral person appointed by the court, or agreed to by the parties,
to facilitate the resolution of day to day parenting issues that
frequently arise within the context of family life when parents are
separated. The court may appoint a Parenting
Coordinator at any time during a case
involving minor children after a parenting plan has been established
when the parties cannot resolve these issues on their own. The
Parenting Coordinator’s goal is to aid parties in monitoring the
existing parenting plan, reducing misunderstandings, clarifying
priorities, exploring possibilities for compromise and developing
methods of communication that promote collaboration in parenting.
The Parenting Coordinator’s role is to facilitate decision making
between the parties or make such recommendations, as may be
appropriate, when the parties are unable to do so. One primary goal
of the Parenting Coordinator is to empower parents to develop and
utilize effective parenting skills so that they can resume the
parenting and decision making role without the need for outside
intervention. The Parenting Coordinator should provide guidance and
direction to the parties with the primary focus on the best
interests of the child by reducing conflict and fostering sound
decisions that aid positive child development.”
Note that no case may be included in
this pilot program if it has a temporary or final restraining order
in effect pursuant to the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act (N.J.S.A.
2C:25-17 et seq.).
This material will be published in
the legal newspapers and will be posted on the Judiciary’s Internet
website: http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us . Questions regarding this
material or the pilot program may be directed to Assistant Director
Harry Cassidy, Family Practice Division, Administrative Office of
the Courts, at 609-984-4228.
/s/ Philip S. Carchman
Philip S. Carchman, J.A.D.
Acting Administrative Director of the
Courts
Day Pitney Lawyers Let Off Hook in Malpractice Suit Over Arms-Dealer
Loan
Mary Pat
Gallagher, New Jersey Law Journal
4-4-07 --
A company that loaned $3.5 million to a business owned by a man
convicted of trying to sell military parts to Iran illegally cannot
sue the lawyers it says failed to warn it of the risk. . . . A
federal judge on March 30 dismissed malpractice claims against
lawyers from Day Pitney and other firms, finding the lender should
have sued the lawyers as part of its state court suit against the
borrowers and that, in any event, it was the borrowers' fraud that
caused the loss. . . . The case, Keltic Financial Partners v.
Krovatin, 05-4324, stems from Daniel Malloy's 1997 arrest and
indictment for the attempted sale of 20 Phoenix missile-battery
components to Iran. The long-range air-to-air missiles were the type
used on F-14A Tomcat jets, which the United States had sold to Iran
before 1979, when the shah was overthrown and the country became an
Islamic republic. . . . Malloy, who with his wife owned two
businesses, International Helicopter Inc. and Aviators Inc.,
allegedly planned to ship the batteries through Singapore to
circumvent the U.S. embargo on Iran arms sales and the Arms Export
Control Act.
The Law Firm of Kazmierczak & Kazmierczak Releases Free
Informational Website on Social Security Disability and SSI
Kazmierczak & Kazmierczak launches the Ultimate Disability Guide.
This site provides free information on Social Security Disability
and SSI. It is designed to help anyone with or with out a lawyer
pursue a claim for benefits. Explains the law, the process and gives
tips on how to win.
4-3-07 -- (PRWeb)
Kazmierczak and Kazmierczak a law firm that has handled thousands of
Social Security Disability cases nation wide has released a new
informational website covering all aspects of Social Security
Disability and SSI. This information is free and Karl Kazmierczak
shares all of his experience in dealing with the Social Security
Administration. . . . The
Ultimate Social Security Disability Guide covers in an
easy to understand way: How to apply; / How to appeal; / SSA's five
step process; / What medical information you need; / What to expect
at a
Social Security Disability hearing; / Tips on how to win;
/ The medical listings; / And much more. . . . The site is updated
frequently to provide updated and accurate information. If any
information on the subject is not found in the site one can simply
e-mail Karl Kazmierczak directly.
March 2007
Putting the Brakes on Lawyers Driving for Dollars
New York
Lawyer, By the Staff of New Jersey Law Journal
3-8-07--Drivers
on New Jersey roadways have reason to be grateful to an appeals
panel for reversing a ruling last Thursday that would have
encouraged lawyers to talk on their cell phones while behind the
wheel. . . . The court overturned a decision by Superior Court Judge
Robert Contillo in Bergen County, who reduced a fee
request in a civil rights case by cutting Richard Lehrich's hourly
rate for the time spent in transit - on the basis that he should
have used the time to conduct other business by cell phone. . . .
The panel said there was no evidence in the record to support the
cut but did not mention the statewide ban on the use of handheld
phones while driving that took effect during the latter part of the
case, in mid-2004.
February 2007
N.J. High Court Applies Hostile Work Environment Standard to School
Sex Harassment
School districts may be liable if teachers know of
student-on-student bullying
Henry
Gottlieb, New Jersey Law Journal
School districts can be held liable
in damages for student-on-student gay bashing and other forms of
sexual harassment if teachers know about it and fail to react
promptly, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled last week. . . . At the
same time, the court declined to impose strict liability. Instead,
liability will depend on how well educators respond to such
situations. . . . "When a student is subjected to severe or
pervasive bullying on the school bus, in the classroom, or at the
playground and a school district fails to adequately respond to that
misconduct, that student has a right to redress," Chief Justice
James Zazzali wrote for the unanimous court in L.W. v. Toms River
Regional Schools, A-111. "However, school districts will be shielded
from liability, when their preventive and remedial actions are
reasonable in light of the totality of the circumstances." . . . The
plaintiff was a Toms River, N.J., student who complained to
authorities in grammar, middle and high school that his peers abused
him for years with anti-gay comments like "homo" and "faggot" and
occasionally assaulted him -- treatment so bad that he felt
compelled to miss classes and avoid school buses and after-school
activities.
Human Like Me?
The
New Jersey Supreme Court Case That Could Define The Fetus.
By Emily
Bazelon
2-21-07 -- What should doctors
who perform abortions tell their patients beforehand? Of course
women need to understand the risks of abortion in order to give
their informed consent, as patients do for any medical procedure.
But the risks of what, exactly, and to whom? In answering those
questions, a case argued before the New Jersey Supreme Court on
Tuesday could upend the practices of abortion providers in the state
(and get the attention of the rest of the country) by enlisting
juries in defining the nature of a fetus. . . . Rosa Acuna was a
29-year-old mother of two when she went to see her doctor, Sheldon
Turkish, complaining of abdominal pain. An ultrasound test showed
she was between five and seven weeks pregnant. Acuna says she asked
Turkish if the "baby was already there," and that he responded,
"don't be stupid, it is nothing but blood." Acuna signed a consent
form and had an abortion. She says she then went to the library,
read up on human development, and decided that her doctor had ended
her relationship with a child she'd named Andres.
Former Metro Judge Censured for Chasing Litigant Down the Block
New York
Lawyer, By the Staff of New Jersey Law Journal
2-15-07 -- The state Supreme
Court last Thursday found censure is the discipline due a judge who,
when affronted by a litigant, chased him down the street. . . . On
April 19, 2005, Lester Maisto Jr., then a municipal judge in
Trenton, left the bench in hot pursuit of a defendant who hurled an
obscenity, made a rude gesture and fled from his courtroom. He lost
the man after a few blocks, but the incident made the papers. . . .
Maisto publicly apologized, but Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer
nevertheless declined to reappoint him to his $54,682-a-year
part-time judgeship when his term expired in September 2005.
Bill Would Make It a Crime to Use Public Records for Solicitation
Henry
Gottlieb, New Jersey Law Journal
2-15-07 -- Lawyers who work in
traffic court have been debating for years whether it's good
marketing to gather names of potential clients from court records
and woo them with solicitation letters. . . . Some say it's savvy
business. Some say the profit is too low after the cost of data
searches and mailing. And some say lawyers should fear they will
acquire a reputation for hucksterism. . . . Now the New Jersey
Legislature is thinking of ending the debate by making the mailings
a crime. Under a Senate bill introduced on Jan. 29, lawyers who
solicit business from court and police rolls would be committing a
crime punishable by up to three years in prison -- the same exposure
some drug dealers and burglars have. . . . Three years ago, the New
Jersey Supreme Court's Advisory Committee on Attorney Advertising
said it was ethical to send unsolicited offers of representation to
people on court lists if the letters contained bold and lengthy
disclaimers.
Blame-the-Lawyer Stratagem Fails in ERISA Suit Against Fund
Trustees
Mary Pat
Gallagher, New Jersey Law Journal
2-14-07 -- A New Jersey
federal judge's dismissal of legal malpractice and
breach-of-fiduciary-duty claims against counsel in an ERISA case
shows that trustees sued for misfeasance can't easily pass the buck
to their lawyers. . . . Though he dismissed the claims on procedural
grounds, U.S. District Judge Joel Pisano held that even if attorney
Gary Carlson knew of prohibited transactions and failed to disclose
them, the fund's trustees "cannot show that Carlson's conduct --
rather than that of the actual wrongdoers -- was the proximate cause
of any losses they allegedly suffered." . . . Carlson was counsel to
the PACE Local I-300 Union and its health fund. The ERISA suit,
Acosta v. PACE Local I-300 Health Fund, 04-CV-3885, alleged that the
trustees and administrators of the fund drained it of money, paying
themselves excessive salaries, leasing fancy cars, using funds for
the benefit of the union and other improper purposes. The plaintiffs
are hundreds of workers whose health claims went unpaid, the
companies they worked for, and health care providers seeking to
recover unpaid medical bills.
Judge Paragano Censured
2-5-07 -- Former Union
Township Municipal Judge John Paragano has been censured by the
state Supreme Court for violating the first two canons of the Code
of Judicial Conduct: failing to observe high standards of personal
conduct and failing to comply with the law. On July 24, 2004, the
judge, who had been drinking heavily, was involved in a brawl with
his live-in girlfriend that led to a 9-1-1 call. By the time police
arrived, he had fled in his Range Rover with a blood alcohol level
of 0.165. Officers caught up with him after he rear-ended a parked
car, and his hand and chest were covered with blood. Paragano
pleaded guilty to driving under the influence in return for other
charges being dropped. Two days later, he resigned as municipal
judge. He practices law in Union.
January 2007
New Jersey to veterans: Drop dead?
By Cal Thomas
"to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his
widow and his orphan"
1-16-07 --
There has never been a more succinct statement about the obligation
and privilege the nation has to care for its military veterans than
that brief clause in Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. But
the New Jersey legislature thinks setting aside a day on which to
remember those who have bought our freedom with their blood is not
as important as it used to be. . . .
New Jersey legislators have
unanimously passed a measure that includes a provision to remove the
state mandate to teach about Veterans Day in the public schools. And
not only Veterans Day; the bill would also remove requirements to
teach about Columbus on Columbus Day, the Pilgrims around
Thanksgiving Day, and even Commodore John Barry Day, which
commemorates the Revolutionary War hero for whom a bridge is named,
which spans the Delaware River to connect Bridgeport, N.J., to
Chester, Pa. . . . It is the possible repeal of the law to teach
about veterans on Veterans Day that has upset a lot of people,
including, understandably, veterans. There are few enough who serve
in today's all-volunteer military and a decreasing number of
citizens who have relatives in the military, or know anyone in
service. That makes it much more important for students to learn of
the contributions made by veterans to secure the freedoms too many
of us take for granted. Those freedoms mark the difference between
American schools and those in dictatorial societies that are forced
to teach state propaganda.
