PART 17: THE HERD IS NOT IMMUNE FROM THE LITIGATION BACKLOG

Written By Christopher Fusco

Well, it’s official, at least here in the Garden State. The pandemic has sent the litigation backlog for family law cases (divorce and child custody) into the figurative stratosphere. As reported by the New Jersey Law Journal, the current backlog for family law matters has increased by 128% between March 2020 and March 2021. That’s a lot of “conscious decoupling” gone bad. At this slow rate of adjudication, unhappy spouses may want to consider reconciliation or possibly separate bedrooms. The SDL can’t solve everyone’s problems.

But for civil personal injury cases the backlog (as reported by the New Jersey Law Journal) has seen a growth rate of 46% in the March 2020 to March 2021 timeframe. Interestingly, there was also mention of strong complaints from plaintiffs’ counsel that defense attorneys and insurers had stopped seeking to settle cases given the expanding timeframe for lawsuits. However, this has not been the SDL’s experience or the experience of many of my colleagues on the defense-side. In fact, we have increased our number of settled cases, especially when a plaintiff’s counsel is willing to factor in backlog and the slow process of the court system into his or her demand.  

At this point, I would not describe the amount of “reasonable plaintiff lawyers” in this pandemic as amounting to herd status. Yet, you can tell when an adversary has spoken to his or her client about the uncertain conditions and unique obstacles that still govern this practice during these unprecedented times. This SDL believes that this type of communication provides a valuable service to all litigants and the overwhelmed court system.

Christopher Fusco

Mr. Fusco has been a founding partner of the Firm since 2001.  Mr. Fusco is also the Firm’s Managing Partner. Mr. Fusco's practice concentrates on the defense of the Firm's clients in commercial, construction, insurance, transportation, general liability, public entity, constitutional law, and high-profile tort litigation.  He has completed major jury trials including negligence cases, NY Labor Law lawsuits, and alleged police misconduct constitutional law claims.

Prior to being the Firm’s Managing Partner, from 1992 through 1996, Mr. Fusco was an Assistant District Attorney with the Kings County District Attorneys Office in Brooklyn, New York.  As a Senior Trial Attorney, he was responsible for managing major felony cases.  He completed over fifty jury trials including cases involving murder, armed robbery, and undercover investigations.  He was assigned high-profile cases with special victims.  Mr. Fusco also drafted and successfully argued People's Appeals before the Appellate Division.

From December 1996 to September 1998, Mr. Fusco was an associate in the New York City firm of Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker where he specialized in complex construction, commercial, labor, insurance coverage, professional liability, employment, civil rights and personal injury litigation in both federal and state courts.  Mr. Fusco completed jury trials involving negligence and construction cases. Mr. Fusco was also responsible for handling corporate and construction-related contractual and lien law disputes.

From September 1998 to October 2001, Mr. Fusco was a partner in the firm of Wright & Fusco, LLC where he successfully defended mass toxic tort actions filed against major chemical and asbestos manufacturers.  In addition, Mr. Fusco was responsible for managing the firm's insurance defense and transportation clients.

https://www.callahanfusco.com/christopher-g-fusco
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PART 18: TO MASK OR NOT TO MASK, THAT IS THE AWKWARD QUESTION. AND HAPPY SUMMER
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PART 16: YES FELLOW SDLs - BREAKING UP MAYBE EASIER THAN YOU THINK. JUST ASK ALL MY CHILDREN’S NINA & CLIFF.