04-2-4541 Guido v. Duane Morris, L.L.P. , App. Div. (per curiam) (26 pp.) Defendant appeals from an order reconsidering and vacating a prior order granting summary judgment with respect to this legal-malpractice action. Finding that defendants did not raise an important issue in their summary judgment brief, and that plaintiffs therefore may not have had an adequate opportunity to brief the issue in their opposition to the summary judgment, and that the case that the motion judge relied on was not decided until after the reconsideration motion for filed, the panel says there was no abuse of discretion in the decision to grant reconsideration. Further, the vacation of the summary judgment is affirmed since plaintiffs’ assertion that defendant failed to advise them as to the effect of the settlement they agreed to in the underlying action is sufficient for the malpractice action to proceed and a repudiation of the settlement was not a condition precedent to the malpractice action. [Decided July 15, 2009.]
AUTOMOBILES — ACCIDENT
05-2-4505 Candelario v. Kost , App. Div. (per curiam) (32 pp.) This is a personal-injury case arising from an accident in which plaintiff was hit by a utility truck while crossing a highway. By leave granted, plaintiff appeals from an order remitting a jury verdict in his favor from $2 million to $600,000. Because the trial court’s stated reasons for granting the remittitur do not satisfy the applicable standards, as highlighted by the Supreme Court in Jastram v. Kruse , and because the record on this appeal cannot support remittitur, the appellate panel reverses and remands for entry of an order reinstating the $2 million verdict. [Decided July 13, 2009.]
