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N.J. CHAPTER 11s DROP SHARPLY AS TOTAL BANKRUPTCIES RISE FAST
"The number of business Chapter 11 petitions declined sharply in New Jersey in the year ending March 31, as the trend towards the use of bankruptcy courts in Delaware and Manhattan for major business reorganizations appeared to accelerate. Chapter 11 filings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey declined to 369, a 10 percent drop from the 412 in the same period in 2008, the Administrative office of the U.S. Courts reports. At the same time, New Jersey experienced a 37 percent increase in all business and personal bankruptcy filings 29,000, which outpaced the national increase of 33 percent to 1.2 million filings."

COURT WANTS BACK-UP FOR REMITTITUR OF 'EXCESSIVE' VERDICT
"The New Jersey Supreme court has remanded a Morris County personal injury case in which a $1.71 million jury verdict was reduced to $800,000, directing the trial judge to provide support for his determination that the verdict was excessive. The Court's decision, in He v. Miller, C-977-08, signals its insistence that judges granting remittitur motions 'must give a factual analysis of how the award is different or similar to others to which it is compared,' as required by Johnson v. Scaccetti, 192 N.J. 256 (2007). The remittitur was based in part on 13 much lower verdicts for similar injuries, most of which were under $100,000, that allegedly proved the award was excessive, but the trial judge did not discuss them. "

NO CAUSE IN MED-MAL CASE REVERSED, BASED ON BAD JURY CHARGE
"A jury charge that sent the wrong message on causation was enough to warrant a new trial for a man who alleged a doctor's failure to take an X-ray of his injured elbow amounted to medical malpractice, an appeals court ruled on Tuesday. And it didn't help that that the trial judge improperly admitted evidence as to how the plaintiff's accident occurred and failed to conduct the in-depth voir dire of prospective jurors as required by edicts from the Administrative Office of the Courts. Whether the wrongly admitted evidence or the inadequate voir dire led to an unfair no-cause, Cumberland County Superior Court Judge Martin Herman should have used a less restrictive charge, the panel held in Gonzalez v. Silver, A-2264-07. "

EUGENE HARING, FORMER McCARTER & ENGLISH CHAIR, DEAD AT 82
"Eugene Haring, who steered New Jersey's largest firm, McCarter & English, through 15 years of steady growth in the 1980s and 1990s, died on June 4 after a brief illness. He was 82. Haring spent his entire half-century law career at the Newark-based firm, becoming executive committee chairman in 1982 and holding the position until his retirement in 1997. He stayed of counsel until shortly before his death. During his time at the helm, McCarter more than doubled its size and tripled its annual revenues."

LAW FIRMS MAKE EASY PICKINGS AS EMBEZZLEMENT ON UPSWING
"Embezzlement is a growing problem for law firms, as recessionary pressures felt by employees and partners alike are increasing the likelihood that trusted colleagues or workers will steal. Law firms are especially vulnerable to embezzlement because there are large sums often at employees' disposal, and attorneys tend to delegate business matters to employees and provide too little oversight, consultants say. Law firm embezzlement is part of an overall increase in occupational fraud since the beginning of the current recession, according to a recent survey by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners."

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