With more than a thousand cases related to property damage from Hurricane Sandy already filed and perhaps hundreds more anticipated, the federal judiciary in New Jersey has moved to speed up cases that are being sent for alternative dispute resolution.
U.S. District Chief Judge Jerome Simandle of the District of New Jersey, who sits in Camden, N.J., issued a standing order dated Aug. 13 that, in effect, cuts in half the amount of time that arbitrators and mediators will have to hear disputes over coverage and issue rulings.
