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Tort-reform group says NJ Atlantic county courts a 'Hellhole'

Posted on Dec 19, 2007

Tort-reform group says county courts a 'Hellhole' By LYNDA COHEN Staff Writer, 609-272-7257 Published: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 Atlantic County's judicial system is in hell. And the rest of the state isn't far behind. That's what a report by the American Tort Reform Association found. The county made its debut this year on the group's annual "Judicial Hellholes" report, coming in at No. 6. "Atlantic City has long been one of America's hottest destinations for gamblers, and now its county courts are attracting personal-injury lawyers who are also looking to get rich quick," association President Sherman Joyce said. "Atlantic County judges have been dealing from the bottom of the deck in advancing personal injury litigation to the detriment of New Jersey's economy." But that's not the case, says one Atlantic City lawyer. "The judicial hellholes report is a myth created by the tort-reform groups," Thomas Vesper said. "They take cases and show there were these large verdicts and make you think the jury was crazy or the judge was crazy. Then when you hear the details of the case you think, 'You know, that wasn't such a crazy verdict.'" A lawsuit won by Vesper is named in the report. In January, Thomas Malick received the largest slip-and-fall jury award in southern New Jersey's history. After just two hours of deliberation, the jury decided Malick should get $5.7 million after suffering a debilitating back injury when he slipped on oil while working in the garage of an Egg Harbor Township car dealership. "Imagine that, oil on the floor in a mechanic's garage," the report states. "Imagine somebody can be that ignorant to miss the truth," Vesper responded during an interview Tuesday. The facts of the case, he said, showed that Seaview Lincoln-Mercury - which is now Holman - was at fault for a combination of oil and water by the door. Malick, then 35, suffered a herniated disc and must have injections a few times a year to numb the pain, Vesper said. The jury found Seaview 99 percent at fault, and the detailer responsible for the remaining 1 percent. The area was set up so that three oil spigots were by the door. Outside, was the detailing area, which brought soapy water to the area. A worker said he and others had seen many people fall in that area. "The problem was created by Seaview, it was known to be dangerous by Seaview and their employees," Vesper said. "So, that wasn't such a crazy jury, was it?" Atlantic County is different from other "hellhole" areas, according to the report. "Instead of taking from out-of-state corporate defendants and giving to in-state plaintiffs, these New Jersey courts are inviting out-of-state plaintiffs to sue New Jersey companies," said Victor Schwartz, general counsel for the association. "New Jersey is known for particularly plaintiff-friendly laws, admitting junk science in court and hosting lawsuits from all over the country against their state's own economic driver, the pharmaceutical industry," the report states. The pharmaceutical industry is especially hard hit, the association finds: "Instead of protecting this important sector of New Jersey's economy and quality of life, Atlantic County courts have allowed the nation to raid the medicine chest." The biggest target is Merk & Co., which faces thousands of suits involving its arthritis drug Vioxx. The New Jersey-based company pulled the drug after studies showed it doubled the risk for heart attacks and strokes. Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Carol Higbee is handling thousands of the cases. Not well, according to the report. "Maybe it is understandable that a judge from the birthplace of the Monopoly board game had allowed the personal injury bar to turn Vioxx litigation into their own personal Monopoly money," the association's report states. Higbee said it's difficult, because ethics don't allow her to defend her decisions. "When you're a judge you know that some people are going to be happy with your decision and some people aren't," she said. "You can't please everybody, so you do the best you can do. That's what I've always done. That's all I can do." One incident the report cites shows Higbee allowed the lawyers to receive 1,000 times what the jury awarded the client. In that case, the award was small, but the bills were exorbitant. Higbee ruled that there is no case law holding that a fee award should be reduced based on the award of damages. "That's a decision that is up on appeal now," she said. "The appellate court will have a chance to review it. The state Supreme Court will have a chance to review it. Then I'll hear what they have to say and follow whatever they tell me to do." "The reality is, it's not a scientific study," said Winnie Comfort, spokeswoman for the state judiciary. "It's an arm of the bar that has a very specific view. There does not seem to be any depth of knowledge about how New Jersey has set up our mass-tort system that, in judicial-management circles, has gotten a fair amount of kudos." But association spokesman Darren McKinney stands by the findings. "Ours is a rather comprehensive and fully documented report," he said, adding that it's an important issue for residents and state businesses. "If I'm paying taxes in New Jersey to pay for judges' salaries and bailiffs' salaries and lighting the courtrooms, I want to know if people from Arizona are coming in and suing in my state," McKinney said. "Those who are profiting from these little cozy setups ought to be exposed." To e-mail Lynda Cohen at The Press: LCohen@pressofac.com To view the American Tort Reform Association's full report, log on to www.atra.org/reports/hellholes/report.pdf