STUART SACKMAN, ET AL. VS. NEW JERSEY MANUFACTURERS INSURANCE COMPANY
A-3230-13T4
In this UIM case, the policy issued by NJM to plaintiff contained a verbal threshold provision pursuant to the AICRA. At trial, the tortfeasor's liability was stipulated. In this appeal, plaintiff argued the trial judge erred (1) denying his motion for a directed verdict as to permanency; (2) the brevity of the jury's deliberations is per se indicative of bias and constituted a clear miscarriage of justice; (3) NJM's counsel's reference to the tortfeasor as "defendant" in her opening statement to the jury was improper and misleading; and (4) the judge's curative instructions were insufficient and constituted reversible error. We rejected all of these arguments and affirmed.
In Part III of this opinion we imposed a monetary sanction against plaintiff's counsel under Rule 2:9-9 because the brief he submitted in this appeal displayed an utter indifference to the standards of professional competence a tribunal is entitled to expect from an attorney admitted to practice law in this State.
Judge Gilson concurs except for Part III of this opinion.
