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JUDGE UPHOLDS BAN ON STATE TROOPERS PRACTICING LAW
"State troopers with law degrees have lost their suit charging that an ethics-code provision banning them from practicing law violates constitutional equal protection and due process guarantees. U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson in Trenton held that preventing conflicts of interest between the private practice of law and the obligations of a state trooper is a legitimate objective that is reasonably related to the government's interest in ethics reform. The ethics code in question, adopted in May 2007 by the Department of Public Law & Safety, extended to the state police a prohibition on law practice that had applied to other employees."

JUDGE DENIES RECUSAL MOTION BASED ON ALLEGED CLOSE TIES TO DEFENDANT'S FIRM
"The assignment judge for Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren counties says that posing with lawyers for photos at bar association events is part of her job and will not affect her impartiality in a malpractice case. Judge Yolanda Ciccone, ruling from the bench on Tuesday, denied a motion for her recusal in a suit against Norris, McLaughlin & Marcus of Somerville and one of its lawyers, Michael Stanton. The motion alleged a pattern of intrigue that casts doubt on Ciccone's impartiality in the case, suggesting she overtly familiar with Norris ? Somerset County's largest and most influential firm. The motion cited photos of the judge and members of the firm in a recent issue of "The Clarion," the newsletter of the Somerset County Bar Association."

STATE MUST PAY POST-JUDGMENT INTEREST EVEN IF NO SPECIFIC ORDER, JUDGE SAYS
"A Mercer County judge, while tossing a class-action suit, has reminded New Jersey officials that plaintiffs who prevail in litigation against the state are entitled to post-judgment interest, even without a court order saying so. Assignment Judge Linda Feinberg ordered, in an action in lieu of prerogative writ, that post-judgment interest "shall be paid in accordance with R. 4:42-11(a), irrespective of whether the judgment, award or order contains a provision expressly requiring the payment." The suit, Paff v. State Treasurer, MER-L-516-09, charged a continuing policy or practice since Jan. 31, 1972, when R. 4:42-11(a) took effect, of not paying interest on money judgments that did not expressly require it."

PRIVATE PARTY MAY FACE CRIMINAL LIABILITY FOR AIDING HONEST SERVICES FRAUD
"A private citizen may be guilty of aiding a public official to hide a conflict of interest ? even if that citizen is unaware of the official's ethical reporting requirements ? if there is evidence that the citizen tried to avoid creating a "paper trail," the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. The unanimous three-judge panel in U.S. v. Carbo concluded that a trial judge erred in overturning a jury's conviction of Thomas Carbo, a painting contractor, on charges of conspiring with former Norristown borough administrator Anthony Biondi to commit honest services mail fraud. Trial testimony showed that Carbo had paid Biondi for use of a truck and that Biondi then awarded Carbo borough work without disclosing their financial relationship."

TRIAL LAWYER RESCUES THREE FROM DROWNING IN NEW JERSEY
"Samuel Pond, a workers' compensation with Martin Banks Pond Lehocky & Wilson in Philadelphia, helped save three people from drowning in the ocean off Sea Isle City, N.J. Pond was kayaking off shore of his beach home on June 26 when he heard a fisherman screaming to him and he saw a couple of heads bobbing in the water: swimmers caught in a rip current. When Pond got out to the swimmers, he saw that a man had swum out to help two boys, and the younger boy was so panicked that he was pulling the man under the water. Pond threw a life jacket to the man and pulled the younger boy into the boat. The older boy held onto a boat line as Pond brought them back to shore."