Blank Rome LLP is pleased to announce that the Firm’s Comisky Cup was presented to Blank Rome’s Princeton office, which led the Firm’s pro bono activity with an average of 107 pro hours per attorney in 2019. Named in honor of Marvin Comisky, Blank Rome’s first managing partner and a lifelong supporter of pro bono, the Comisky Cup is awarded annually to the office(s) with the highest pro bono performance at the Firm, as determined by the average pro bono hours per attorney and percentage of attorneys doing more than 20 hours of pro bono work per year.
The Firm’s Princeton office, which in 2018 was named The American Lawyer’s Regional Litigation Department of the Year as well as Law360’s New Jersey Powerhouse, maintained its strong commitment to pro bono last year through impactful work on significant pro bono civil rights cases. For example, a Princeton pro bono litigation team handled a notable case in 2019 that resulted in a preliminary injunction this past spring on behalf of an Orthodox Jewish prisoner at the New Jersey State Prison who was denied the right to exercise his religious freedom by the prison’s refusal to provide him adequate access to Kosher oil, which he uses to anoint himself during his daily prayers. As a result of the preliminary injunction, the plaintiff will be permitted to order Kosher prayer oil during the lawsuit, thereby restoring the First Amendment rights he has long been denied.
For more information on our Princeton office, please click here.
On behalf of four Texas law firms, Blank Rome on March 24, 2020, successfully obtained a dismissal of a putative legal malpractice class action in Gore, et al. v. Bruce Nagel, et al., filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, alleging that the law firms violated New Jersey Court Rule 1:21-7 by charging excessive contingency fees. Plaintiffs did not allege that the Texas law firms provided incorrect advice. In underlying personal injury litigation, the Texas law firms represented Debbie Gore, a Texas resident, and Doris Lance-Smith, an Alabama resident, against Ethicon, the manufacturer of pelvic mesh products for injuries sustained after surgical implantation of these products. On May 21, 2013, and June 2, 2012, respectively, Texas resident Gore and Alabama resident Lance-Smith, entered into retainer agreements with Texas counsel to pursue their mesh claims against Ethicon. Both Plaintiffs agreed to pay a 40 percent contingency fee, and allowed their counsel to associate with other law firms without increasing the required fee. Gore’s Retainer Agreement stated that Texas law governs and that any claims “arising under [the Gore Retainer] must be filed only in a court of competent jurisdiction in Harris County, Houston, Texas.” Lance-Smith’s Retainer Agreement did not have a choice of law provision. The Plaintiffs had sustained injuries in their home states after being implanted with the allegedly defective mesh products. 
Earlier this month, a three-judge panel for the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey affirmed a 2018 trial court decision granting summary judgment against a self-described obese former bus driver for defendant Community Bus Lines, Inc. (“Community”), and dismissing the driver’s claim for violation of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“NJ LAD”). In doing so, the appellate court held that “obesity alone is not protected under the NJ LAD as a disability unless it has an underlying medical cause.” Because plaintiff, in part, failed to present any direct or circumstantial evidence that defendants perceived the driver as disabled due to a medical condition that caused him to be overweight, the appellate court found his claim was without merit.
We are pleased to announce that New Jersey Legal Pulse was named a Top 60 New Jersey Blog to follow in 2018.