The Senate Judiciary Committee met in a marathon session that included interviews for the renomination of 18 Superior Court judges, one Tax Court judge, 11 new nominations for Superior Court judgeships and one Administrative Law Judge. All were approved unanimously, helping to chip away at the judicial shortage that has plagued the state judiciary for at least two years.
“Today, the Superior Court has gained 11 exceptional individuals who are prepared to serve the residents of New Jersey fairly and impartially as judges. Their appointments represent an important step in filling the troubling number of vacancies in the Judiciary and restoring it to an equal co-branch of government,” New Jersey State Bar Association President Timothy F. McGoughran said.
He added that even with the latest slate of judicial approvals, the Superior Court still has 56 empty judge seats, equivalent to roughly 12% of the entire bench. Civil and matrimonial trials remain suspended in Passaic County due to a lack of judges, impacting families in custody, parenting time and child support disputes. And, in January, the vacancies will increase again when more retirements occur.
“The NJSBA continues to urge that state leaders – the governor and the state Senate – fulfill their Constitutional duties and act swiftly to approve more qualified candidates to the Judiciary. The Senate has several days in this lame duck session to push through another 20 to 30 judges that have been fully vetted in a historic move to get the judiciary at a vacancy level that is manageable for the people of New Jersey,” McGoughran said.
The judges await a vote of the full Senate, which will meet on Dec. 11.
In addition to the consideration of judicial nominees, the Committee heard several bills supported by the NJSBA and one that was strongly opposed by the Association.
The Committee ultimately held S3433 (Sacco), which proposes to cap recovery of compensatory damages and limit contingency fees in medical malpractice cases. It also permits periodic payment of damages in certain circumstances and excludes benevolent gestures relevant to liability in medical malpractice cases from discovery. The NJSBA strongly opposed this bill as dangerous for New Jersey patients who are victims of medical malpractice.
NJSBA Second Vice President Norberto A. Garcia testified in opposition to the bill on behalf of the NJSBA, calling the bill a solution in search of a problem that does not exist in New Jersey.
“The NJSBA knows the importance of protecting the well-being of professionals and supports policies that do so, but not at the expense of patients who suffer significant, many times irreversible damages as a result of malpracticing health care professionals,” the NJSBA said in its written statement. Joining Garcia was Drew Britcher, past president of the New Jersey Association of Justice on behalf of NJAJ.
Sen. Jon Bramnick said the bill unnecessarily curtailed recovery for those victims of medical malpractice and sought a solution to urge insurance companies to treat professionals more fairly. The Committee held the bill after consideration of the testimony and comments.
The Association supported several bills on the agenda, including S709(Codey)/A4444 (Lagana), which upgrades certain types of assault against sports officials to aggravated assault; S2626 (Madden)/A4004 (Murphy), which would provide training for firefighters to identify and link services for victims of sex trafficking and domestic violence; and S3043 (Stack)/A977 (Reynolds-Jackson), which eliminates the conviction of certain indictable offenses as automatic disqualifiers for jury service. The last bill was also held.
This is a status report provided by the New Jersey State Bar Association on recently passed and pending legislation, regulations, gubernatorial nominations and/or appointments of interest to lawyers, as well as the involvement of the NJSBA as amicus in appellate court matters. To learn more, visit njsba.com.