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Michael Furey was quoted in an article, "The Biggest New Jersey Cases of 2016," which was published in Law360. Furey noted in the article that the state Supreme Court ruling in Cuevas v. Wentworth Property Management Group seems to have been interpreted by some plaintiff-side attorneys and judges to mean that motions for new trials should now be rejected as a matter of course. But that is "simply wrong," Furey said. Importantly, Furey said, the Cuevas court didn't revise the standard for granting new trials when a jury awards excessive damages — that the award must shock the judicial conscience — but rather revamped the methodology a trial court is to utilize in evaluating the award. "No longer is the trial court to consider the awards in other cases whether those examples come from the court's personal experience or from the parties," Furey told Law360. "Instead, the trial court is to focus on the evidence presented at trial to determine whether the award is excessive."
