On Dec. 14, 2017, the Supreme Court issued its decision in A.T. v. Cohen, 2017 N.J. Lexis 1383 (2017). The holding in this case seems to inject new life into the moribund “Ferreira” conferences in professional liability cases.
By way of background, in 2003 the New Jersey Supreme Court issued two simultaneous decisions on the affidavit of merit (AOM) statute; namely Ferreira v. Rancocas Orthopedic Associates, 178 N.J. 144 (2003), and Knorr v. Smeal, 178 N.J. 169 (2003). In what was later characterized as paternal “hand holding,” our Supreme Court ruled in those two cases that trial courts should conduct a conference—thereafter known as a “Ferreira” conference—prior to the expiration of the timeframe within which an AOM needed to be provided in a malpractice case, in order to see if an AOM was needed. Specifically the Ferreira court wrote that it “proposed” that:
an accelerated case management conference be held within 90 days of the service of an answer in all malpractice actions …. At the conference the court will address … whether an AOM has been served on defendant. If an affidavit has been served, defendant will be required to advise the court whether he has any objection to the adequacy of the affidavit …. If no affidavit has been served, the court will remind the parties of their obligation under the statute and case law.
