As noted in "Multicounty Litigation Bloats Backlogs in N.J. Superior Court" [Aug. 5], multicounty litigation has contributed to a backlog of cases throughout New Jersey despite a decline in overall filings. And while MCL cases are centralized in three counties - Bergen, Middlesex and Atlantic - MCL in Atlantic County accounts for a disproportionate 85 percent of this backlog.

It should be noted that 93 percent of plaintiffs in MCL-designated pharmaceutical litigation reside outside of New Jersey, the result of a phenomenon described as "litigation tourism." Both federal courts and plaintiffs' attorneys acknowledge that New Jersey courts are an easier venue in which to recover damages, and consequently contribute to New Jersey's MCL backlog. New Jersey's comparatively weak rules of evidence are frequently cited by observers as a key reason for this distinction.

Several weeks ago, State Sen. Ray Lesniak questioned whether Justice Helen Hoens should, or even could, be reappointed to the State Supreme Court. 

Citing Sen. Lesniak's vow to block her nomination, Governor Christie announced this week that he would not reappoint Justice Hoens.  The seven-member court currently has two vacancies.  Governor Christie's refusal to reappoint Justice John Wallace in 2010 began a three year conflict over the partisan makeup of the Court.

The Governor has nominated Camden County Superior Court Assignment Judge Faustino J. Fernandez-Vina, who was appointed by Governor McGreevey, to succeed the republican-appointed Hoens.

Read More 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whose fault is court upheaval? 

The state Supreme Court, Christie said, is "being damaged because you don't have constitutionally appointed and confirmed justices on the court."

The seven-member court right now is operating with five full-time justices and two temporary assignments. Soon, with Christie's decision not to renominate Associate Justice Helen Hoens, a Republican, it will have only four.

In nominating Camden County Assignment Judge Faustino Fernandez-Vina rather than Hoens, Christie said he was seeking to circumvent a Senate Judiciary Committee hostile to his choices. Christie billed it as a sort of compromise, except that Fernandez-Vina is a Republican, the kind of nominee Senate Democratic leaders said they would not confirm until another Democrat was put forward by the governor.

He was defending a novel bargain he had struck with Facebook on behalf of millions of users whose privacy he said the company had violated. The settlement's central innovation was to cut Mr. Kamber's clients out of the deal.

The class members would get nothing. The plaintiffs' lawyers would get about $2.3 million. Facebook would make a roughly $6.5 million payment - to a new foundation it would partly control.

The appeals court upheld the settlement last year by a 2-to-1 vote, with the majority saying it was "fair, adequate and free from collusion." Last month, critics of the settlement asked the Supreme Court to hear the case.

The Facebook settlement certainly explores new frontiers in class-action creativity. For starters, consider the plaintiffs.

"They do not get one cent," Judge Andrew J. Kleinfeld wrote in dissent. "They do not even get an injunction against Facebook doing exactly the same thing to them again."

In exchange for nothing, the plaintiffs gave up their right to sue Facebook and its partners in a program called Beacon, which automatically, and alarmingly, displayed their purchases and video rentals.  

Read More