Delay To Reinstate For Tactical Reasons Not Excuseable

The NJ Court of Appeals did not permit reinstatement of a dismissed claim where the claimant's attorney waited more than one year following the entry of a dismissal for lack of prosecution. While the NJ case law permits discretion by the Judge of Compensation to reinstate a claim, the Court upheld the trial court's decision of not allowing reinstatement.


"Here, there was no impediment to the filing of a timely motion for reinstatement for nearly the entire one-year statutory period. Despite the considerable age of most of the petitions in question, and despite the fact that they still were not capable of being moved due to petitioner's failure to provide discovery, petitioner here did nothing but adopt a deliberate course of delay, choosing to expend as much of the one-year period as possible without taking action. The fact that petitioner's attorney's unanticipated illness proved untimely and struck at a critical moment is of no consequence. Even if counsel's inactivity between September 7 and October 3, 2008 was excusable, his conscious and deliberate inaction from September 27, 2007 until September 6, 2008 was inexcusable. An attorney's neglect or inadvertence is not ground for relief pursuant to Rule 4:50-1(a). See, e.g., Baumann v. Marinaro, 95 N.J. 380, 394 (1984); Quagliato v. Bodner, 115 N.J. Super. 133, 138 (App. Div. 1971)."

Danter v. Arrow International, Inc., DOCKET NO. A-0111-09T30111-09T3, (NJ App Div 2010) Decided June 30, 2010 - Unpublished.


To read more about dismissals  and workers' compensation click here.

Click here for more information on how Jon L Gelman can assist you in a claim for workers' Compensation claim benefits. You may e-mail Jon  Gelman or call 1-973-696-7900.