Representative Results
A selection of representative matters handled by our attorneys. These outcomes reflect specific facts and are offered for illustration only.
Trial Experience
Most civil cases settle. That is exactly why it matters who is on the other side of the table — we try cases, first chair and second chair, in state and federal courts.
Obtained a defense verdict in a wrongful-death action where the pre-trial demand was $7 million and the trial judge had recommended a settlement in excess of $2 million.
Defense verdict in a head-on collision involving a commercial truck on a roadway under construction, where the plaintiff was airlifted to a trauma center and underwent four surgeries.
Defense verdicts in multiple medical-malpractice trials, including claims against an orthopedic surgeon and against a pediatrician and nursing staff.
Defense verdict in a premises action involving significant spinal injury, where the plaintiff and an independent witness testified to a dangerous condition.
Defense verdict in a premises action where the plaintiff sustained injuries requiring internal and external fixation devices, carried a workers’ compensation lien in excess of $100,000, and demanded $500,000 before trial.
Tried a product liability action involving bilateral knee surgeries to a verdict of $41,000 — the plaintiff’s medical bills — against a $500,000 demand, and a product/premises claim involving a traumatic finger amputation to a $50,000 verdict against a $400,000 demand.
Tried the defense of a construction manager to an Essex County jury through the close of all evidence in a serious construction site injury action. Before trial, won summary judgment removing the co-defendant property owner with prejudice; at trial, filed and argued seven motions in limine directed at the economic damages theory, statistical injury-rate evidence, and net-opinion expert testimony, presented the defense engineer by de bene esse videotaped testimony, and cross-examined the plaintiff and his liability and medical experts. The matter settled during trial.
Defended a law firm and its attorneys in a legal-malpractice jury trial requiring proof of the “case within the case” — an underlying automobile accident matter — with competing expert testimony on the legal standard of care, accident reconstruction, biomechanics, medical causation, and economic loss. The matter resolved during trial.
Appellate Wins
Successfully argued and defended an appeal before the New Jersey Appellate Division on whether the at-issue commercial general liability policy and its exclusions required the insurer to cover its named insured for first-party damages arising from building code violations.
Successfully defended an appeal before the Second Department of the New York Appellate Division after a pre-answer dismissal of the complaint based on the statute of limitations.
Dismissals & Summary Judgment
Complete dismissal for a national rideshare platform in a serious-injury highway collision. Summary judgment established that a driver who had finished her last ride and was using the app only for navigation on her way home was outside the scope of any agency relationship, and that the platform’s compliance with New Jersey’s TNC Safety and Regulatory Act defeated the negligent-contracting theory. The design-defect counts had already been dismissed with prejudice by stipulation.
Dismissed a class-action complaint against a supermarket chain alleging TCCWNA, Consumer Fraud Act, and Sales & Use Tax Act violations — avoiding exposure well into seven figures.
Summary judgment dismissing all claims in a matter alleging product liability, strict liability, and breach of warranty, where the pre-trial demand was $5 million and trial was estimated at ten weeks.
Summary judgment dismissing with prejudice all claims against a trailer manufacturer in a design defect and failure-to-warn case, after successfully arguing that the plaintiff’s liability expert report was an inadmissible net opinion.
Summary judgment dismissing a whistleblower/wrongful-discharge claim against a public entity, summary judgment in a race discrimination case against a corporation, and a pre-answer dismissal of an age discrimination claim venued in Western Pennsylvania.
Pre-answer dismissal in federal court of an entire complaint brought by a student against her former college, including claims under Title IV of the Higher Education Act, Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, the Law Against Discrimination, and state common law.
Summary judgment for a municipality in a claim by a former municipal attorney asserting entitlement to lifetime retirement health benefits.
Twice prevailed in defending orders to show cause seeking to bar the solicitation and recruitment of employees — while obtaining an order prohibiting solicitation of our client’s own employees — and separately won temporary and permanent injunctive relief preventing a former employee from soliciting customers or using confidential information, including customer lists.
Summary judgment for a police officer in an excessive-force matter, affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit; certiorari denied by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Summary judgment dismissing a legal-malpractice claim arising from a complex real-estate transaction, and dismissals of Dragonetti/bad-faith claims against attorneys.
Summary judgment for a nonprofit veterans’ organization sued after a fistfight between two patrons in its parking lot. No duty to protect arose because the assault was unforeseeable: neither man had a history of violence, the premises had no record of prior incidents, and no party served a security expert report. Over opposition from both the plaintiff and the co-defendant, the court dismissed the complaint and all remaining cross-claims with prejudice.
Obtained summary judgment on behalf of a big box retailer in federal court by successfully arguing that the mode of operation rule did not apply and that the retailer lacked notice of any dangerous condition.
Obtained summary judgment on behalf of a commercial property owner under the “storm in progress” doctrine in state court.
Obtained a pre-answer dismissal of Section 1983 and malicious prosecution claims asserted against a police department in federal court.
Cleared a snow removal subcontractor in a slip-and-fall on an unpaved footpath at a commercial property. The case turned on one word in the contract — “walkways” — and the record showed the path was never designated for clearing: a contractor cannot be found negligent for failing to perform work it was never hired to do. The complaint and all cross-claims were dismissed with prejudice.
Ended a premises liability action against a national warehouse retailer by holding the plaintiff to the rules: dismissal without prejudice under R. 4:23-5(a)(1) after discovery and deposition defaults, then dismissal with prejudice under R. 4:21A-4(f) and R. 4:23-5(a)(2) when the plaintiff failed to appear at mandatory arbitration.
Resolutions Below Demand
Resolved a premises matter involving a frozen shoulder, four surgeries with three more recommended, and a near seven-figure medical picture for roughly one percent of the $7 million demand, on the eve of trial with motions in limine pending.
No-cause award before a three-member FINRA panel on claims under Section 10(b), Rule 10b-5, and state securities law, where the plaintiff sought damages in excess of $1 million.
Achieved a binding-arbitration result of more than four times the pre-arbitration offer in a dispute involving a multinational company.
In a case of first impression, prevailed on a declaratory-judgment action establishing coverage with full counsel fees awarded.
Settled a federal product liability claim for ten percent of the initial demand at mediation, based on a favorable, but disputed, pre-deposition expert inspection of the product.
Settled a state court product liability claim for nuisance value following a pre-deposition medical record review on the issue of causation.
Resolved a pedestrian claim involving a livery vehicle for less than a quarter of the initial seven-figure demand — and half of the mediator’s recommended settlement value.
Resolved for less than $100,000 an automobile accident claim involving a commercial vehicle that had been arbitrated at $2 million.
Favorably resolved a significant collision captured on video, with seven plaintiffs demanding settlement in the seven-figure range, after establishing over vigorous opposition that a temporary employment agency owed our client a duty of defense and indemnification.
