Recently, there has been a discussion about the use of best practices in New Jersey Workers' Compensation. The New Jersey State Bar Association Workers' Compensation Section sent out a letter to the Director of Workers' Compensation and the Acting Commissioner related to recommendations to improve the efficiency of litigating workers' compensation cases.
These recommendations discuss best practices and include opinions from attorneys on both sides with input from judges.
The recommendations seem to highlight that each vicinage and each Judge vary in how they run their court. The issues addressed include creating guidance on how many missed evaluations the court will permit to procedures in connection with adjournment requests and the calling of the list. We commonly hear our clients' frustration about missed fees and the delays in the court granting motions to dismiss, especially when they are for lack of coverage.
These recommendations address some of the employers' frustrations, but also point to concerns the employees' attorneys have with the employer/carriers including recommending a fee shifting for unreasonable delays in obtaining settlement authority. The recommendations were sent on March 22, 2017. Whether anything will change is still unknown, but it is important to always remember that the judge is the decision maker and fact finder. Therefore, we will always do our best to advise you about which judge a case is before and how to proceed. Weber Gallagher Partner Mark Setaro of our Mount Laurel office is on the Committee. Make sure your voice is heard.
For more information please contact Jennifer Laver at jlaver@wglaw.com or 856.382.1008.