New Jersey Tort Laws
As of June 2023, New Jersey has been home to 13 of the largest companies in the United States, according to the Fortune 500 69th edition. Foremost among these companies is Johnson & Johnson, with a net worth of $94.9 billion. However, in recent years, the company has been embroiled in more than 40,000 lawsuits, and after a New Jersey judge dismissed its bankruptcy case, it spawned an additional 11,000 cases.
The Garden State has been a crucial venue for Johnson & Johnson talcum powder mass tort cases. This ongoing litigation showcases the state’s commitment to addressing mass torts — legal actions arising from widespread harm caused by a wrongful act.
For those delving into the complexities of mass tort litigation, understanding tort law is more than just an academic exercise but a strategic necessity. It empowers plaintiffs to obtain remedies, pursue compensation, and ultimately achieve justice against adversaries, most of whom are in the highest positions of power.
Basic Tort Categories in New Jersey
Negligent Torts
Negligent tort refers to situations wherein an individual’s action or oversight is deemed unreasonably hazardous, leading to foreseeable harm, despite the lack of intention to bring harm or damage to anyone or anything.
An example of this type of tort is slip-and-fall cases, wherein poorly maintained premises — such as uneven or wet floors — lead one to slip, fall, and sustain harm.
To achieve a favorable outcome in a lawsuit, a claimant is required to establish and substantiate the following essential elements:
Duty of care - There must be a duty of care owed by the defendant (the person being sued) to the plaintiff (the person initiating the lawsuit). The obligation to exercise a duty of care stems from the prevailing societal norm that individuals are expected to act reasonably and refrain from causing harm to others.
Breach of duty of care - When the defendant fails to exercise reasonable care, this is considered a breach of duty of care. It can be either an action or an inaction that does not match or meet the level of care a normally cautious person would perform.
Causation - The plaintiff must have suffered injuries or harm due to the defendant’s negligence. To prove this element, it must be shown that the damage suffered was a reasonably expected outcome of the defendant’s conduct.
Damages - For a negligence claim to be valid, the plaintiff needs to prove that the defendant’s carelessness caused them actual harm, whether physical, emotional, or financial.
Intentional Torts
An intentional tort is any conduct or action a defendant engages in with the specific goal of causing harm to a victim. Offenses such as sexual abuse, physical assault and battery, theft, defamation, and fraud rank highly among New Jersey’s intentional torts.
Strict Liability Torts
In a strict liability tort case, the defendant is legally responsible for any damages that may result in a plaintiff’s injuries, whether or not the defendant was negligent in the first place. In other words, a defendant is held strictly liable if their conduct, in and of itself, exposes another person to a reasonable risk of injury.
This concept often applies to scenarios when a defendant provides a defective product that injures or harms someone who used it reasonably. In this case, strict liability will apply, regardless of the defendant’s intent.
Other Tort Categories in New Jersey
Economic torts, otherwise known as business torts in New Jersey, are harmful actions done deliberately, carelessly, or recklessly against a company, causing a detrimental impact on its financial well-being. These frequently result in legal actions in which the organization seeks monetary compensation to restore its reputation, business relationships, or operational efficiency. Common examples include fraudulent misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, and theft of trade secrets, ranging from a company’s manufacturing processes and secret recipes to marketing strategies and advertising plans.
Another tort category in the state is “nuisance.” In a legal sense, the term “nuisance” refers to a situation that obstructs or diminishes a neighboring party’s capacity to obtain advantages or contentment from their own property. It also applies when one causes a circumstance that may potentially be offensive or hazardous to the life, well-being, or safety of others. Examples include an industrial factory emitting foul-smelling or hazardous smoke, an individual maintaining a property for prostitution purposes, or the exposure of wild animals to the public.
Tort vs. Crime in New Jersey
Torts and crimes are both legal concepts in New Jersey but differ in nature, purpose, and legal action involved. Key differences include the following:
Mass Torts in New Jersey
A mass tort in New Jersey describes a situation wherein multiple lawsuits are filed by plaintiffs who share identical or similar complaints. These suits typically focus on multiple defendants, particularly in cases involving major corporations or companies.
Some examples of mass tort cases are the following:
Defective consumer products.
Faulty medical devices.
Exposure to mesothelioma.
Adverse reactions to pharmaceutical drugs.
Illnesses arising from water contamination or oil spills.
Because mass torts consolidate multiple victims' cases into one, the cost of litigation is reduced, as opposed to when each plaintiff chooses to file their lawsuit separately. Additionally, those who cannot afford to hire a personal injury lawyer in New Jersey for their individual cases can participate in a mass tort case instead.
In a mass tort, all class members share the compensation received from the settlement or verdict. This may not be the case if each lawsuit is tried separately and the defendant goes bankrupt, which may lead to some victims being unable to receive fair compensation or any at all. This is why mass torts, in a way, ensure that all members of the suit can receive payment for the harm that they have suffered.
Mass Torts vs. Class Actions
While mass tort and class action share similarities, they also have crucial distinctions. Both lawsuits involve multiple plaintiffs suing the same defendant; however, the difference lies in how the court handles these cases and the role of victims in each context.
The Mass Tort Process
Mass tort lawsuits have specific stages that can lead to either a settlement or a guilty/not guilty verdict. Before filing the lawsuit, mass tort lawyers often wait until they are fairly certain that the plaintiffs have a valid claim due to the high risks involved. Collaboration among lawyers from various firms is also common in mass tort cases. It may take years before the whole process is completed and a resolution is offered to the plaintiffs.
A mass tort lawsuit typically proceeds in the following manner:
Claim assessment and review of records: To assess the case's viability, lawyers need to evaluate a substantial volume of documentation. This includes reviewing statements from the plaintiffs and assessing the allegations about the injuries sustained. Defense attorneys also thoroughly examine the plaintiffs’ entire medical histories, not just those from 10 years ago, as with personal injury cases. This is to determine pre-existing conditions that may have caused or contributed to the alleged injury.
Establishing uniformity or similarity among complaints: To characterize a case as a mass tort, lawyers must examine and identify commonality among their clients. For example, when multiple plaintiffs allege that a defective product has injured them, their attorneys identify patterns among the claims to establish the product's faulty properties. Simply put, the plaintiffs' injuries must be either identical or similar.
Filing the claim: Mass tort claims are filed jointly by lawyers to initiate federal lawsuits. Federal courts are the preferred choice for handling mass tort cases, regardless of where the plaintiffs are located. This is often referred to as multi-district litigation, wherein the case is reviewed in a single district court despite having plaintiffs from various locations.
Holding bellwether trials: Courts prefer to conduct a preliminary examination of a few select cases before hearings. These sample trials, called "bellwether trials," choose the most severe cases (usually involving those who are dying or have already died) with high similarity. The bellwether trials yield a representative sample for both litigating parties, providing a reasonable expectation of potential outcomes if all cases proceed to trial. Attorneys on both sides also use the sample outcomes to advise and direct settlement negotiations.
Resolving or arriving at a settlement: Settlement or resolution is the endpoint of the proceedings in a mass tort case. The time it takes to settle a mass tort case can take months to years, depending on the complexity of the claims. An appeal may also be considered following a trial. Once a resolution has been reached, the court determines compensation by assessing the particular damages suffered by each plaintiff.
New Jersey Tort Liability Insurance Requirements
The state has over 861,000 small businesses spanning various industries, and 13 of the largest companies in America are headquartered in New Jersey. As such, business owners and landowners in New Jersey are required to carry $500,000 in general liability insurance. This type of coverage provides protection in case a business is held legally responsible for a plaintiff’s personal, property, or financial loss.
Multifamily rental properties that are occupied by the owner also need to be insured. The minimum amount of liability insurance for this type of property is $300,000.
The Statute of Limitations for Tort Cases in New Jersey
Similar to personal injury lawsuits, tort cases in New Jersey typically have a two-year time limit. If a person fails to file a claim within this specific timeframe, they may lose their right to pursue legal action. In other words, one may not be eligible to participate in a mass tort claim against an entity if more than two years have passed since the injury.
Note that in the Garden State, the statute of limitations requires only that a case be filed within the prescribed period, not that it be completed.
There is an exception, however, when a plaintiff is suing a public entity, such as the State of New Jersey or any county, municipality, district, public authority, agency, or public body. According to NJ Rev Stat § 59:8-8, a Notice of Tort Claim must be filed within 90 days of the incident, which is earlier than the typical two-year statute of limitations. After the notice is filed, there is a six-month waiting period before continuing with the rest of the lawsuit.
How Much Can Someone Sue in a Tort Case in New Jersey?
Plaintiffs in New Jersey are not subject to any limitations or caps on compensatory damages. Legislators have tried and failed multiple times to reform tort law and limit compensatory damages, but so far, none have been successful. Compensatory damages, in essence, aim to cover the losses incurred by an injured party as a result of the defendant’s negligent or reckless actions.
In a mass tort case, the losses and damages incurred by each individual are unique, and all plaintiffs are assessed individually. Compensation is awarded to victims of mass tort cases for various damages and losses, which often include:
Medical-related expenses such as hospital stays, prescriptions, rehabilitation, surgical procedures, ambulance fees, and doctor's appointments.
Reduced earning capacity.
Long-term physical injuries or disabilities, such as disfigurement, scarring, or amputations, that have a significant impact on a plaintiff’s well-being.
Loss of income or wages.
Emotional or mental anguish.
Wrongful death damages, including funeral and burial expenses.
However, in the case of punitive damages, New Jersey law mandates that trial judges give a fair and justified verdict, considering their intent to penalize the defendant and discourage them from repeating such actions. The statute limits punitive damages to either five times the compensatory damages or $350,000, whichever is higher. For example, a plaintiff participated in a mass tort lawsuit and was awarded $1,000,000 in compensatory damages. He could then receive up to $5,000,000 in punitive damages.
New Jersey Comparative Negligence Act
State negligence rules can impact the amount a plaintiff can obtain in a mass tort lawsuit. The New Jersey Comparative Negligence Act establishes the legal framework for determining liability in injury cases involving multiple parties at fault. This law stipulates that the compensation a plaintiff is entitled to is reduced proportionally based on their degree of negligence. The plaintiff may be deemed partially negligent, but they may still pursue compensation if their level of fault is not greater than the defendant’s.
In the context of mass torts, the comparative negligence statute ensures a fair distribution of compensation according to the plaintiffs’ respective degrees of responsibility.
For example, Plaintiffs X and Y are pursuing a monetary indemnity of $100,000 for damages incurred due to a defective drug. The court reviews each case and determines that Plaintiff X bears 10% responsibility for his injuries due to his failure to adhere to the prescribed dosage. Plaintiff Y, on the other hand, has exhibited no negligence. Due to his 10% negligence, Plaintiff X lowers his compensatory damages award to $90,000. Meanwhile, Plaintiff Y, who has not been negligent, will receive the full $100,000.
Other Legal Remedies in Tort Cases in New Jersey
Individuals involved in a mass tort case can seek judicial remedies in addition to compensatory damages. Two common judicial remedies used in mass tort cases are:
Injunction: This court order forbids or compels a party to participate in a particular activity or execute a specific action. It typically takes the form of a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction, or a permanent injunction.
Restitution: As a legal remedy in civil cases, restitution serves the dual purpose of averting unjust enrichment and restoring a party to their pre-wrongful position. It aims to restore any unreasonable gain obtained by the defendant rather than compensate the injured party for their losses, as with damages.
Resources for Tort Victims in New Jersey
Legal Services in New Jersey
Legal Services in New Jersey, founded in 1966, offers comprehensive assistance to New Jerseyans with limited financial resources in matters pertaining to civil law. Services include legal advice, clarification on issues, and referrals to lawyers who may be able to represent victims. Their hotline, 1-888-LSNJ-LAW, is available Monday-Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Community Health Law Project
The Community Health Law Project serves low-income people with disabilities and the elderly in New Jersey. It provides legal counsel and advocacy services, including assistance with medical equipment, consumer products, and Medicare/Medicaid. CHLP can be reached by phone at 973-275-1175 or by email at chlpinfo@chlp.org.
Mesothelioma.net
The group, which has been in operation for more than two decades, focuses on giving medical and legal support to those who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma or asbestos-related diseases. Since its establishment, Mesothelioma.net has helped more than a thousand patients and their families. Their hotline number is 1-800-692-8608.
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