Related Topics â–º Other TopicsNew Jersey Mesothelioma Lawyer and Legal Information
In February 2008, a New Jersey jury awarded what is believed to be the largest award to a single plaintiff ever. The family of a New Jersey man who was exposed to asbestos on the clothing of his father when he was an infant will receive $30.3 million from General Motors and other defendants.
In 2007, the American Tort Reform Association named Atlantic County in New Jersey as one of its "judicial hellholes", based in large part on its high jury awards in personal injury lawsuits. The case of Mark Buttittia, described above, is only one of the large jury awards that was handed down in New Jersey in the past few years. ATRA bases its judgment of ‘judicial hellholes' on attitudes and laws that are favorable to plaintiffs and unfavorable to defendants in asbestos and other personal injury and tort trials.
Determination of Liability
New Jersey courts follow a modified comparative liability rule - 50% in determining liability. Under the New Jersey rule, a plaintiff can still recover damages even if they are partly at fault in causing their own injury as long as the plaintiff's fault is judged to be 50% or less. If the plaintiff is judged to be 51% or greater at fault in their injury, they receive no award of damages for compensation. If the plaintiff is judged to be 50% or less at fault in the injury, any damages awarded by the court will be reduced in an amount proportionate to their percentage of fault. In other words, in a case where the plaintiff is judged to be 30% at fault for their injury and the damages determined by the court amount to $100,000, the plaintiff can collect $70,000.
In determining how to assign damages in cases with multiple defendants, the New Jersey courts use a modified joint and several liability rule. In cases where a defendant is judge to be less than 60% at fault in causing the plaintiff's injury, the defendant is only subject to several liability. Under several liability, a defendant is only liable for the portion of the judgment that is proportionate to their percentage of the fault. If a defendant is determined to be 61% or greater at fault in causing the plaintiff's injury, that defendant is subject to joint and several liability. Under joint and several liability, a defendant can be held liable for the entire amount of the judgment regardless of the percentage of fault.
2008 - Buttittia v. General Motors et al: The family of Mark Buttitia filed a wrongful death suit against General Motors and other defendants, alleging that Buttitia had been exposed to asbestos carried home on the clothing of his father and brothers, all of whom worked at a New Jersey General Motors plant.
Verdict: Plaintiff, $30.3 million 2006 - Parker v. R.T. Vanderbilt and Hammill and Gillespie: Bonnie Parker filed a wrongful death suit alleging that her husband, Stanley Hirsch, had died of mesothelioma caused by his exposure to asbestos in potters clay and glazes distributed and manufactured by the defendants.
Verdict: Plaintiff, $3 million
2006 - NJ Parker v. Vanderbilt : widow awarded $3 million for death of her husband from mesothelioma; first trial in the nation dealing with asbestos in industrial talc
2006 - NJ Velez-Zapata et al v. Long Island Railroad: jury awarded total of $16.4 million to three plaintiffs in suit filed under FELA
2006 - Olivio v. Exxon: The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that a New Jersey man could bring suit against Exxon in the wrongful death suit of his wife. The suit alleged that Eleanor Olivio developed mesothelioma caused by exposure to asbestos on her husband's work clothing despite the fact that Eleanor Olivio had never set foot on Exxon property and her husband had not been employed by Exxon. Olivio's husband was a contractor who worked at various work sites around New Jersey including an Exxon refinery.
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