Zager Fuchs, P.C.

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Zager Fuchs, P.C.'s own Mike Warshaw will be a featured speaker at this year's Boardwalk Seminar for the NJ Association for Justice! Way to go Mike!

https://www.nj-justice.org/?pg=BoardwalkBusinessTorts

NJ 'Uncorks' New Legislation, Shakes up Alcoholic Beverage Industry | New Jersey Law Journal In short, this legislation expands the scope of permissible business activities by certain manufacturers, creates new license categories, ratchets up the pressure on inactive retail licenses to be put to productive use, and creates a new mechanism for bringing otherwise inactive retail licenses back...

NJ Supreme Court Goes Beyond Question of 'Direct Physical Loss' in COVID-19 | New Jersey Law Journal Although it is not strictly necessary given our conclusion that Ocean Walk did not allege facts to establish a 'direct physical loss' of or 'direct physical damage' to its property, we nonetheless briefly address Ocean Walk’s argument that the contamination exclusion in the policies issued by AGLI...

NJ Supreme Court Lowers the Reliability of 'DRE' Protocol, Harming Minorities | New Jersey Law Journal In November 2023, New Jersey’s Supreme Court declared the testimony of drug recognition experts (DRE) reliable enough to be used as evidence in 'State v. Olenowski,' 253 N.J. 133, (2023). Unfortunately, in doing do, the court lowered the standard for reliability to allow DRE evidence.

Coaching a Witness Should Not Be Tolerated | New Jersey Law Journal This decision underscores the requirement for attorneys to not tell or suggest to a witness how to respond to questions. The consequence may be severe.

'I Was Always Frustrated': Talc Bankruptcy Judge Wants This Rule To Change | New Jersey Law Journal In a Jan. 10 letter, U.S. Bankruptcy Chief Judge Michael Kaplan of the District of New Jersey asked the Federal Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure to change a rule that prohibits bankruptcy judges from appointing special masters.

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"Shouldn't we look at the language, instead of the labels that are attached?" Chief Justice Stuart Rabner asked. "And the language says ... you cannot have a provision in a settlement agreement that has the purpose or effect of concealing the details relating to a claim of discrimination, retaliation or harassment. That is against public policy. That is unenforceable."

Are Nondisparagement Agreements Enforceable Under the NJLAD? | New Jersey Law Journal Shouldn't we look at the language, instead of the labels that are attached? Chief Justice Stuart Rabner asked. And the language says ... you cannot have a provision in a settlement agreement that has the purpose or effect of concealing the details relating to a claim of discrimination, retaliation o...

Under New Jersey law, workers who win a ruling finding that they were misclassified as independent contractors can collect treble damages, which might include unpaid overtime, going back six years, said Kathleen M. Connelly of Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper in Westfield, who provides representation and counseling to employers. The successful worker is also entitled to legal fees, she said.

Wake-Up Call: New Jersey Is Cracking Down on Worker Misclassification | New Jersey Law Journal Because of the fact that they got away with it for so long, there was a little bit of false bravado, said Kathleen M. Connelly of Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper in Westfield, who provides representation and counseling to employers.

After an evidentiary hearing, the trial court found that the firm had represented only the corporation and not the selling owners as individuals. The privilege belonged only to the corporation, and the buyers, who now controlled the corporation, declined to assert it. The Appellate Division held that the trial court’s findings as to the client’s identity were supported by substantial evidence and affirmed. In affirming, the Appellate Division reiterated settled law that under the Rules of Professional Conduct 1.13(a), an attorney representing a corporation represents the entity and not its individual directors unless all parties give informed consent to concurrent representation. It explicitly declined to depart from the RPC by adopting a presumption that shareholders in a closely held corporation hold the corporation’s privilege individually.

Who Is the Client? Recent Appellate Division Ruling Provides Useful Reminder | New Jersey Law Journal The result should not be surprising to attorneys. However, we suspect that it would unpleasantly surprise many owners of closely held corporations.

'That's Going to Lead to a Lot More Lawsuits': New Litigation Trend Emerging | New Jersey Law Journal A growing reliance on electronic messages is causing an unexpected outcome.

Opinion | The Supreme Court’s Road to El Dorado In a major Fifth Amendment case, the Justices consider whether governments can use building permits to extort property owners.

'The Bell Cannot Be Unrung' Coaching Caught on Camera Results in Dismissal | New Jersey Law Journal Therefore, dismissal warns plaintiffs and their attorney that their behavior will not be tolerated and that their conduct was so egregious as to cause them to suffer a 'drastic remedy'—the loss of their cause of action, stated the opinion. Moreover, it informs other litigants that they risk dismis...

"Shouldn't the request to give up one's right to speak freely be accompanied by comments that you do not have to, that you have a right not to, that you are not going to be punished if you chose to speak?" asked Chief Justice Stuart Rabner.

Is Silencing Accusers Constitutional? NJ Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments | New Jersey Law Journal Shouldn't the request to give up one's right to speak freely be accompanied by comments that you do not have to, that you have a right not to, that you are not going to be punished if you chose to speak? asked Chief Justice Stuart Rabner.

Browser Beware: Keyword Warrants and Evolving Internet Privacy Law | New Jersey Law Journal Police continue to utilize other digital tools to track suspects. One such tool, 'keyword warrants,' poses an even greater threat of privacy invasion, according to Javerbaum Wurgaft attorneys.

Blizzard of New Laws, Covering Pot to Paid Leave, May Leave Employers in Fog | New Jersey Law Journal Many of the new laws are state statutes, with provisions that differ from similar measures passed elsewhere. That reality will add to the compliance challenges for businesses with workers scattered across the country.

Top Litigation Trends of 2023—and What to Watch in 2024 | Law.com As 2023 comes to an end, we’re looking back at significant litigation trends surfaced by Law.com Radar.

Expert’s 'Rule of Thumb' Not Scientifically Reliable, According to Supreme Court | New Jersey Law Journal Does an expert's rule of thumb assessment meet scientific standards, or should it be inadmissible? Former Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Louis Locascio weighs in on the recent New Jersey Supreme Court ruling.

New Jersey's Restrictions on Trade With Russia Held Preempted by Federal Law | New Jersey Law Journal “Governor Murphy was proud to sign a tough sanctions law against the Russian government in response to Russia’s brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and is disappointed that a federal court has prevented the state from enforcing that law, a spokesman for the governor said.

First Published Opinion Issued on Whether Jury Allowed to View Slow-Mo Replay | New Jersey Law Journal Defendants contend they were unduly prejudiced by these video playbacks, citing research indicating that slow-motion presentations can increase a viewer's perception or inferences of intentional conduct, stated Judge Jack M. Sabatino, in his written opinion for the court. To date, there are no publi...

Opinion | The DEI Rollback of 2023 States start to limit programs that sow racial and political division.

Opinion | The Wisconsin Supreme Court Stages a Gerrymander Coup Four progressive judges overturn the state’s legislative maps and threaten to redraw them with partisanship in mind. Eric Holder is smiling.

Bill Would No Longer Exclude Domestic Workers From Discrimination, Wage Laws | New Jersey Law Journal We must ensure these workers are treated humanely and afforded the same respect as all workers are entitled to, especially given the essential and necessary care and support they provide to New Jersey families, bill sponsor Sen. Richard Codey said. No one should be subject to the mistreatment that m...

Un(conditional) Love: Who Gets the Engagement Ring After the Break-Up? | New Jersey Law Journal Under Pennsylvania and New Jersey law, engagement rings are conditional gifts. The condition of these gifts is the marriage, not the engagement. When the marriage does not occur, the condition is said to be unfulfilled.

Harassment on Campus | New Jersey Law Journal No one supports free speech rights more than this board. But we also recognize the limits of the First Amendment and the utter hypocrisy in the failure of these institutions to protect their Jewish students.

The Five Paths of Cyberattacks: What To Know and How To Be Ready | New Jersey Law Journal There are essentially only five paths an attacker can take while performing a cyberattack on a target, and the MITRE ATT&CK (Adversarial Tactics, Techniques, and Common Knowledge) framework is a knowledge base that describes the actions and behaviors of cyber-attackers across various stages of the c...

New Jersey's Federal Bench Is Almost at Full Strength, But Will Cases Move More Efficiently? | New Jersey Law Journal The problem is ... they're still going to have one of the heaviest caseloads in the country. And it's still going to be hard to move cases efficiently through the district court in New Jersey, Daniel Fleming said.