Charles Toutant

"With our clients, we are taking a stand for families across the country and are committed to securing damages for affected families and injunctive relief to prevent further harm," plaintiffs lawyer Shana Khader said.

Wayne Azzarello's suit was one of nine pending against the Edison School District in connection with abuse by Edison High School shop teacher Frederick Burkley.

For employers facing legal action over harassment based on a protected characteristic, a faulty investigation could make a bad situation even worse, said Frances Haas, an employment lawyer at Nyemaster Goode in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

In a suit filed in Essex County Superior Court, Lowenstein Sandler says Trif & Modugno and partner Louis A. Modugno drove a Lowenstein Sandler client, Harmony Foundation of New Jersey, into insolvency and receivership.

Employers should prepare for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to pay more attention to the caliber of their internal investigations into workplace harassment, some employment lawyers said.

"Instead of using the phrase 'agree to' in the sentences about arbitration, the parties used 'may,'" judges wrote.

The attorney also allegedly "falsely, intentionally, fraudulently and dishonestly ended the matter for reasons known only to him, in direct derogation of his ethical, professional and legal responsibilities to his client," the suit claims.

Markel Insurance, which has around $8 million in coverage, could be liable for the entire $30 million agreed to in the consent judgment because it was given a chance to tender its policy limits at the outset of the case but "they were just dismissive," Baldante said.

A medical expert working for the defendant said the torn rotator cuff was the result of old age, rather than an accident-related injury, plaintiffs counsel said.

New Jersey's law, passed in response to the murder of a federal judge's son, allows potential plaintiffs, including judges, police and child abuse investigators, to assign their claims to others. Critics say the law meant to protect judges has created a potential windfall for plaintiffs lawyers.