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Martin Kane Kuper
Consultation is Free
1.877.NJLAW4U
(732-214-1800)
Legal and Medical News Blog

Texting in Crosswalks Could Become Illegal

Texting in crosswalks while walking in New Jersey is about to get much more expensive. Cherry Hill Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt has proposed legislation that would require a $50 fine and the possibility of imprisonment for texting while walking in a crosswalk. The penalties for texting while walking would be similar to jaywalking.

The bill is designed to “heighten the awareness of what’s going on around you,” said Lampitt, a Democrat.” Even if you have permission to walk sign to walk, you should not be distracted, you should be aware of what’s going on around you, especially in the street.” Drafting the bill came out of a personal experience, Lampitt said. She works at the University of Pennsylvania and knew a student who was killed after being hit by a bus when he was crossing the street. The student was using his phone when he was struck.

How Dangerous is Texting While Walking?

A research study out of William Patterson University found that distracted walkers have a much higher incidence of injury. Dr. Cory Bach studied more than 21,000 pedestrians at five intersections and discovered that nearly half crossed on a “Don’t Walk” signal, and nearly one-third of pedestrians who crossed on a “Walk” signal were wearing headphones, talking on a mobile phone, and/or looking down at an electronic device.” In 2010, more than 4,000 pedestrians were killed and another 70,000 were injured in traffic crashes in the United States, according to the study.

Changes to the New Jersey Car Seat Law

new jersey car seat law

Changes to the NJ Car Seat Law

Changes to the New Jersey car seat law go into effect on September 1, 2015. Here are the important facts to know:

  • Small children must stay in rear-facing car seats with five-point harnesses until they’re 2 years-old and weigh 30 pounds.
  • Once toddlers are turned around, they need to be in front-facing car seats with five-point harnesses until they’re 4 years-old or weigh 40 pounds. They can then be moved to boosters.
  • Older children must stay in five-point harness car seats or booster seats until they’re 8 years-old and 57 inches tall.

Previously, the New Jersey car seat law only required rear-facing seats until the child was one year-old, and they could be moved to standard booster seats earlier. The new law is in accordance with the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which notes that the new requirements keep children much safer in the event of an accident.

So, even if the new New Jersey Car Seat Law law contradicts the recommendations on your car seat, the law takes precedence. Violators can face $50-$75 fines for each violation.

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Malpractice is Not Driving Up Healthcare Costs

Many frequently blame rising healthcare costs on lawsuits and malpractice insurance. Arguments typically revolve around “defensive medicine” and cite statistics about increasing amounts of medical malpractice lawsuit payouts, and how those factors must be affecting healthcare costs across the board. The only problem is that the data doesn’t support the typical narrative – at least not in the last decade.

The National Practitioner’s Data Bank 2012 annual report noted that “between 2003 and 2012, the number of medical malpractice reports decreased 34 percent, declining steadily from 18,535 to 12,152.” The same data show “the inflation-adjusted total value of payments made on behalf of doctors in 2011 was the lowest on record,” and that medical malpractice payments were “just 0.12 percent of national health care costs” in 2011.

Doctors have also started to weigh in. David Belk, a California physician practicing internal medicine has go so far as to post his annual medical malpractice insurance statement online – $3,459 in 2013. In New York, however, that premium would jump to over $7,000 in the Rochester area, and over $37,000 on Long Island. The discrepancy is the result of a number of factors, but the risk of malpractice is similar regardless of location. He explains that, “more and more, insurance companies are scrutinizing every test you order,” adding that most doctors are more concerned with the patient than liability. “I don’t think the threat of malpractice is more important than the threat of being wrong in a very important decision.”

Caps on lawsuit payouts have little impact on costs, since the contingent fee system for attorneys already filters cases that are unlikely to succeed, and the cost of litigation already prevents most attorneys from taking smaller value cases.

So, if malpractice and lawsuits are not to blame, what is? “American Health Insurance Plan, an insurance industry trade association that believes defensive medicine is part of the problem, cites a litany of other suspects: higher prices for services, a system that pays for volume over value, adopting new technology without considering effectiveness and a lack of transparency that prevents people from understanding how the market is, or isn’t, working.”

NJ Rated the Worst State for Speeding Tickets

Popular Mechanics has rated New Jersey the worst state in the country for speeding tickets. What makes it the worst for speeding tickets? First, NJ is reputed to have a speed trap every 30 miles, which is the most in the country, and it has been calculated to collect $30,000 per mile in fees. The biggest factor in the decision, however, was the  “racing” statute that doubles fines for going more than 10 mph over the speed limit in a 65 mph zone.

New Jersey Speeding Tickets and NJ Laws

The magazine misinterpreted  the statute, and commented  that all fines were doubled if caught going over 75 mph in a 65 mph zone. In actuality, fines are only doubled if a motorist is operating a vehicle “for a wager or in a race or for the purpose of making a speed record.” NJSA  39:4-52.  Statistics actually show that speeding tickets on the Turnpike and Parkway have decreased in 2014. If the statue was interpreted correctly, New Jersey may not have taken the bottom spot.

By comparison, North Dakota was named the best state in which to receive a speeding ticket because of its lenient penalties.

Handsfree is Not Distraction-Free

According to a new study, interacting with handsfree functions on a smartphone (like Siri) while driving causes more distractions than texting. In 2010, an estimated 160,000 crashes involved texting or emailing with a handheld device. In the same year, more than one million crashes involved talking on a cell phone, according to the National Safety Council.  

Texting while driving has become a national concern, prompting 44 states to ban text messaging while driving, and many states placing a ban on hand-held use of cell phones while driving. According to  Distraction.gov,  the  official government site for distracted driving, 15 states now prohibit all drivers from using hand-held cell phones while driving. New Jersey bans all handheld phone use, and bans texting while driving. That same concern, however, has not extended to handsfree smartphone usage.

When interacting with handsfree features, the driver’s eyes remain on the road and hands on the steering wheel, but his attention is elsewhere.
– Distracted drivers tend to miss visual cues such as exits, red lights and stop signs.
– Driver reaction and response time become delayed as they are required to “attention switch,” causing a delay in a driver’s braking reaction time.
– Driver reaction time with use of a hands-free device is slower than the reaction time of driver impaired at a .08 alcohol intoxication concentration, according to the NSC.

Clearly, handsfree is not distraction-free.  Each day in the United States, nine people are killed in crashes that involve a distracted driver.  At any given moment during daylight hours on the road, an estimated 660,000 drivers are using electronic devices while driving, according to the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS). Interacting with handsfree functions while driving is as dangerous as driving with a .08 BAC, and the crash, injury and fatality statistics are just as shocking.

Lengthy Civil and Family Trials Suspended in Bergen County

Due to a shortage of judges and judicial resources, civil and family trails expected to last longer than two weeks will not be tried in Bergen County for the foreseeable future. The  decision was made public in a  letter sent to the state bar association  on Monday by Bergen County Assignment Judge Peter E. Doyne. The county is allotted 36 judicial slots, but currently has 6 vacancies. That problem is only expected to grow, when three more judges set to retire from the bench in September.  

When testifying before a State Assembly committee in May, Judge Doyne presented a preview of  the effect of additional judicial vacancies in the vicinage.  With six judicial vacancies, an auto accident lawsuit could take up to 15 months from filing to final resolution, Doyne said,  according to The Record. But with nine unfilled seats, it could take up to 28 months, he warned the committee.  

In his letter, Judge Doyne explained that his decision to suspend lengthy trials was done  “reluctantly,” in recognition of an “obligation to attempt to ensure this vicinage addresses the matters of as many litigants as we can within a reasonable time period.”

Family court trials are expected  to receive the heaviest blow, since family cases that make it to trial are often extremely contentious, involving  significant sums of money  and child custody issues. No division, however, will go unscathed. With only three full-time judges assigned to the criminal division, judges from the family and civil parts are expected to hear some criminal cases.

Due to political roadblocks between the State Senate and the Governor’s Office, there are judicial vacancies across the state – 60 in total. Essex County currently has the most vacancies, with 21. Given the current situation, there has been talk of reviving a deal to bring 8 judges to Essex.

For more, please read NJ.com.

NJ Implements Higher Penalties for Texting and Driving

Beginning today, drivers caught texting and  driving in New Jersey will face penalties between $200-$400 for a first offense, up from $100.  A second offense is between $400 and $600, and the third time, not a charm, with a fine of up to $800 and the possibility of a suspended license. “We’re sending a message,” State Senator Richard Codey remarked. “We’ve had enough and the people who text and talk on their handheld cell phones are the new drunk drivers in terms of severity and danger in what they create on the roads.”

New Jersey officials say distracted driving has been linked to one and a half million crashes in the state in the past decade.

FDA discourages the use of laparoscopic power morcellation during hysterectomy or myomectomy for uterine fibroids

Laparoscopic power morcellators are medical devices used during different types of laparoscopic (minimally invasive) surgeries. These can include certain procedures to treat uterine fibroids, such as removing the uterus (hysterectomy) or removing the uterine fibroids (myomectomy). Morcellation refers to the division of tissue into smaller pieces or fragments and is often used during laparoscopic surgeries to facilitate the removal of tissue through small incision sites.

It is estimated that 1 in 350 women undergoing hysterectomy or myomectomy for the treatment of fibroids is found to have an unsuspected uterine sarcoma, a type of uterine cancer that includes leiomyosarcoma. If laparoscopic power morcellation is performed in women with unsuspected uterine sarcoma, there is a risk that the procedure will spread the cancerous tissue within the abdomen and pelvis, significantly worsening the patient’s likelihood of long-term survival. For this reason, and because there is no reliable method for predicting whether a woman with fibroids may have a uterine sarcoma, the FDA discourages the use of laparoscopic power morcellation during hysterectomy or myomectomy for uterine fibroids.

The FDA recommends that health care providers and patients should carefully consider available alternative treatment options for symptomatic uterine fibroids, and directs that providers not use laparoscopic uterine power morcellation in women with suspected or known uterine cancer.

Attention Medicaid Recipients – Bipartisan Budget Act Changes

The Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) which was just approved by Congress and signed into law contains language damaging to plaintiffs covered by Medicaid. As many of our present and former clients are aware, Medicaid, via federal legislation, has the ability to assert a lien for repayment of benefits received by its recipients who go on to file a civil claim to obtain a recovery for their injuries.

Initially, Medicaid liens were interpreted by our courts to encompass any and all benefits paid by Medicaid to its recipient and further that those claims could reach the entirety of the recipient’s recovery.

 In 2006 the United States Supreme Court decided the matter of U.S. v. Ahlborn. In Ahlborn, the Court ruled that only the portion of the settlement that represented payment of medical expenses could be claimed by the Medicaid agency. The BBA now allows a State to claim ALL of a settlement or judgement. The BBA also counters a 2013 Supreme Court decision in Wos v. E.M.A. that rejected North Carolina’s assertion of a lien on Medicaid’s claimants’ tort recoveries.

We expect the result of the new law to be that plaintiffs who are Medicaid recipients will recover less and in many cases will be unable to pursue claims at all because any recovery would have to be reimbursed to Medicaid. This provision was added by the BBA because it was deemed to raise revenue by Congressional Budget Office economists, despite the fact that the provision will have the opposite effect. Reversing this unfair, unnecessary and ill-advised policy is a priority.

NJ Bill to Prevent Pregnancy Discrimination Awaits Governor’s Signature

A bill amending the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD) to prevent pregnancy-based discrimination has passed the New Jersey State Assembly.  A similar bill passed the State Senate earlier, and the bills now await the Governor’s signature to be enacted into law.  Protections would not just cover pregnant women, but also those who had just given birth, or those who have medical conditions relating to pregnancy.  Under the bill, an employer must provide reasonable accommodations to pregnant women in order to maintain a healthy pregnancy, or to recover from childbirth with complications.  The law is not limited to the workplace – it would extend to other areas like renting apartments or securing bank loans.

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