Lawsuit alleges Casagrande legal malpractice

By Wally Edge | November 6th, 2008 - 2:13pm

An insurance company is suing a Monmouth County law firm for malpractice, alleging that the firm used their political connections to get the case and that their lawyer, freshman Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande, didn't know what she was doing. 

The original suit involved a woman, Carol Carpenter, who was "riding in a county medical transportation bus to a dialysis session when she fell out of her wheelchair and broke her right leg. Doctors amputated the leg two weeks later." When she sued the county the case was assigned to Cleary, Alfieri & Jones, a politically active firm with strong ties to the Monmouth GOP.  

The complaint filed by North River Insurance Co. says that "none of the attorneys who handled the case were in the least familiar with the duties of defense counsel, or even the rudiments of litigation practice" and that Casagrande, an associate who had one year of experience at the time, "should have received close supervision, but didn't, and her memos showed she wasn't well versed in the facts... A look at her analysis of the damages issue also reveals that she had totally missed the point."

"The Cleary firm was eligible for this appointment by virtue of its political activities rather than by virtue of its qualifications as an insurance defense firm," the complaint notes.  "It required skillful defense counsel rather than political appointees."  James Cleary, a partner at the firm, has served as assistant county counsel and counsel to the Western Monmouth Utilities Authority. 

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Mallet and Mason Successfully Oust Questionable Appointee

By | June 11th, 2008 - 5:04pm

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DEMOCRATS TO VALENTIN: INVESTIGATE CLEARY’S ABUSE OF PUBLIC FUNDS

By Michael Mangan | May 30th, 2008 - 2:53pm

Freeholder Candidates Amy Mallet (D-Fair Haven) and Glenn Mason (D-Hazlet) today issued a letter to Monmouth County Prosecutor Louis A. Valentin calling on him to investigate how an assistant county counsel received $165,000 in health and pension benefits he was not entitled to.  

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Democrats Call for a Criminal Investigation into Benefits

By Michael Mangan | May 30th, 2008 - 2:50pm

Democratic Candidates for Freeholder Amy Mallet and Glenn Mason call on the Office of the Attorney General and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s office to investigate what, if any, criminal activity occurred when James Cleary received $165,000 in benefits from the State of New Jersey and the Western Monmouth Utilities Authority (WMUA). 

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Wake-Up Call

Morning News Digest: February 9, 2010

Garden State Equality fires new broadside at Dems Smarting over the state Senate's refusal to pass marriage equality and disillusioned at the moment with the Democratic Party majority, Garden State Equality’s 85-member Board of Directors unanimously decided against giving financial contributions to political parties and their affiliated committees. ...

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