Major Car Accident Verdict in the NJ State Supreme Court won by Franklin Solomon of Weitz & Luxenberg
Christina DiProspero v. Barbara J. Penn, et al. (A-66-03)

This is part 5 of major car collision verdict won by Franklin Solomon of Weitz & Luxenberg.

V.

Section C.

A Governor ’s conditional veto of a bill may be considered in determining legislative intent, and may be “strongevidence ” of that intent when the veto directly affects that part of the legislation to be construed. Oswin, supra, 129N.J. at 308 (internal quotations omitted). In this case, Governor Whitman exercised her power to conditionally vetoS- 3 pursuant to Article V, Section 1, Paragraph 14 of the New Jersey Constitution. Governor ’s Recommendations forReconsideration Statement to Senate Bill No. 3, at 2 (Apr. 27, 1998) (L. 1998, c. 21), available at http://www.njstatelib.org/NJLH/LH9899 /PDFDOCS/9899/S3_1.PDF .

Governor Whitman conditionally vetoed the initial AICRA bill because she wanted the statute to “provide greaterconsumer choices, mandate that any changes to territorial caps be revenue neutral, establish set criteria for thedelineation of new rating territories, and preserve rate caps for seniors citizens and drivers who select the basicpolicy. ” Press Release, Office of the Governor, Whitman Conditionally Vetoes S- 3, at 1 (Apr. 27, 1998) (L. 1998, c.21), available at http://www.njstatelib. org/NJLH/LH9899/PDFDOCS/9899/S3_2.PDF . None of GovernorWhitman ’s recommended changes to the bill that led to the conditional veto related to the new limitation on lawsuitthreshold.

Nevertheless, given “the certainty of judicial interpretation ” of Senate Bill No. 3, the Governor analyzed the bill ’sprincipal provisions, including the “[r]evised [l]awsuit [t]hreshold. ” Governor ’s Recommendations forReconsideration Statement to Senate Bill No. 3, supra, at 2- 4. The Governor concluded that “[t]he 1988 thresholdha[d] not worked ” because it allowed recovery for “nonpermanent ” injuries, such as injuries that heal and non- serious fractures, and because it relied on “nebulous ” substantive standards. Id. at 3. The Governor viewed the newthreshold law as a stronger version of the comparable Florida law, requiring that proof of injuries be based on “objective clinical evidence ” and that the injuries ’ “permanency must be attested by the treating physician underpenalty of perjury . . . . ” Id. at 3- 4. The Governor noted that

Senate Bill No. 3 replaces the existinglawsuit threshold, under which temporary,nonserious injuries qualify, witharequirement that fractures be displaced andthat other injuries be serious enough neverto heal sufficiently to regainnormalfunction. In other words, the injury mustbe to a “body part or organ ” (as opposed to “tissue, ” which wasconsciously omitted fromthe definition in negotiations) and must bepermanent [i]n order for the injured partytohave standing to sue.

[Id. at 3.]

The Governor ’s commentary suggests that she considered both permanent injuries and displaced fractures to beserious injuries under the new, improved threshold. The Governor referred to Oswin, supra, in her message, but onlyto make an unrelated point concerning Florida law. Id. at 4. Nowhere in her analysis did Governor Whitman expressthe view that Oswin ’s serious life impact standard would apply to AICRA. The Governor ’s awareness of Oswin,supra, and her failure to reference the serious life impact test strongly imply that she did not expect that Oswin ’sextra- statutory standard would apply to AICRA. The Governor ’s conditional veto does not indicate in any way thatthe serious life impact standard survived the passage of AICRA.

Previous Page |  Next Page

see also:

Opinion Major Car Accident Verdict in New Jersey State Supreme Court
FREE information on New Jersey State Supreme Court major car accident verdict

Part 5 - Sec D Major Car Crash Verdict in New Jersey State Supreme Court
FREE Major car crash verdict information

Major Car Accident Verdict Major Car Accident Verdict in the NJ State Supreme Court won by Franklin Solomon
Our own Franklin Solomon in the NJ State Supreme Court won a major car accident verdict