Just days before the Covid shutdown, partners Matthew Curran and Christopher Gray obtained a verdict in a civil rights case in Camden County. In that matter, the president of the PBA was retaliated against for his union activities, and a jury found as much.
In October 2021, Christopher and I went to Federal Court in Camden and, in a bench trial (Judge only), won a verdict for 30 Pemberton Officers in a FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) case.
Thirty (30) months later, our first post-pandemic, in-person jury found retaliation for a Clifton Police Officer who was skipped over for Lieutenant. We were circumspect about the jury’s interest in coming in person and engaging in the case. Our concerns were allayed by the jurors’ constant attention, their clear and obvious interest in the case, and their thoughtful verdict after a little less than two (2) hours of deliberation. They gave us every nickel of our expert economist’s damages calculation.
Those cases resulted in large attorneys’ fee applications, which is always a risk for management.
Just as they were rushing out of the Camden County Courthouse concerned about the spread of Covid and just as they have now returned to the Passaic County Courthouse with Covid hopefully behind us, juries still are giving the time and attention left to America’s last institution that still represents the opportunity to be heard and to have your facts fully developed and ruled upon. We are eternally grateful to the juries who give up their lives for weeks to come forward and do their essential and crucial job in our American system that suffers from so many questions and attacks. Also, the Judges who oversaw those cases and sat as Judge and Jury in Federal Court are still working to keep it glued together for our justice system. At least in this regard, America is still functioning well, and we look forward to it continuing to do so.