Newark Litigation and Appeals Law Blog

When New Jersey residents are involved in legal disputes, they generally hire attorneys. While in the U.S. a citizen may represent him or herself in a legal matter, people generally put their trust into professionals to guide them through such matters. Both New Jersey and federal statutes are complex, and rules and regulations regarding court deadlines and procedures are ever changing--so, an attorney's job is to remain competent and abreast of all of these elements on your behalf.

However, from time to time an attorney fails to do his or her job. When this happens, the effects can be extremely damaging to the client. When a lawyer lets a client down because of legal incompetence, that client is often wise to hold that lawyer accountable with a legal malpractice lawsuit. A West Virginia attorney and his former partners have faced three legal malpractice suits this year alone.

Many New Jersey residents are likely aware of the case involving a Maryland cardiologist who allegedly implanted unnecessary stents in as many as 369 patients. Many of the lawsuits involving these allegations are ongoing, but the doctor, Mark Midei, has lost his employment and his license to practice medicine in the meantime.

Midei has maintained that he was only a scapegoat in a larger kickback scheme organized by St. Joseph's Medical Center and the owner of that hospital. The hospital has in fact settled a $22 million whistleblower suit to this effect, but has not admitted any guilt. Midei has now sued St. Joseph's for defamation, arguing he lost his job and reputation due to his employer. But on Monday a judge threw out the employment dispute, saying Midei waived his right to sue when he signed a separation agreement.

Not too long ago we discussed how Facebook and other digital media entities relate to New Jersey employment law. That blog post went over whether or not Newark employers have the right to demand Facebook passwords from employees or job candidates. The intersection of technology and employment law was in the news again this week when a U.S. appeals court handed down a very interesting ruling.

The appeals court ruled that companies cannot press criminal charges when employees violate their computer or Internet policies by doing something like checking Facebook or shopping online during the work day. Previously, under a broad interpretation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, some businesses have called it fraud and other crimes when employees break such policies.

It seems that just about the entire United States, New Jersey included, is following the Trayvon Martin case as it unfolds. Many in Newark may have heard that Spike Lee reached a dispute resolution settlement today with an elderly couple after the director spread a Twitter posting listing their address as that of the man who shot the unarmed teen late last month.

The Twitter-related case was settled almost as soon as it began. On Wednesday, Lee re-Tweeted an address to hundreds of thousands of followers, thinking that the address was that of George Zimmerman--the man who shot the teen, spurring an investigation that has generated national outcry. The address, though, was actually that of an elderly couple who happened to have a son whose name was similar to George Zimmerman's, but there exists no relation. The couple had to vacate their home, fearing for their safety after the Tweet.