Our attorneys defend municipal, county and state entities, employees and officials in civil rights litigation, including actions under 42 U.S.C. section 1983. Cases include alleged denial of civil rights, improper taking, false arrest, false imprisonment, excessive force, inmate assaults and injury arising from high speed pursuits.

In today’s age of cell phones, surveillance cameras on every corner and increased media and public attention to the alleged misdeeds of public entities, officials and employees, we believe in forming long term relationships with our municipal clients and offer training to those them on how to avoid liability inducing situations. However, given the number of functions required of a municipal governing body and its actors, adverse interaction and even litigation is inevitable, and, in such cases, we believe that having a personal relationship with clients from the chief executive and governing body on down to the individuals on the street is critical to recognizing issues as they arise, managing potential exposure and effectively litigating those cases where court involvement is unavoidable.

We pride ourselves on a record of defending our clients in the Superior Courts of every county in the state, the Federal District Courts for the District of New Jersey, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court. In the matter of Florence v Burlington County, we successfully defended the county in a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of thousands of former inmates at the Burlington County Jail who alleged damages as a result of improper strip searches. After securing a landmark ruling from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals reversing the District Court’s denial of the County’ summary judgment motion and grant of plaintiffs’ summary judgment motion, we ultimately prevailed before the Supreme Court setting new law that reversed the prior decisions of 10 Circuit Courts of Appeal.

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