Birth Mothers' Rights Cases
Represented cases involving the rights of pregnant women and
birth mothers in matters spanning twenty years. For a number of
years was counsel to a national organization of birth mothers and
collected research on the unique experience of the birth mother.
Located and worked with experts who specialized in grief reactions
of women who surrendered their rights to their relationship with
their children.
Cases of public interest in which Mr. Cassidy was chief
counsel include:
- A number of cases in which he secured the return of a
birth mother's baby in situations where the mother's rights
were violated and the surrender of her rights was not informed
and voluntary (1981-2001)
- Chief counsel in the famous Baby M Case which won
the poetic opinion of the New Jersey Supreme Court; the first
case which struck down surrogate parenting contracts as
unenforceable, against public policy, and exploitative of
women; In the Matter of Baby M (1988)
Racial Injustice Cases and Rights of Persons Accused of Crimes
Obtained a reputation for successfully handling appellate cases
involving constitutional issues and the rights of those accused
of crimes. Won percentage of appeals three to four times greater
than the average state wide percentage. Some of the cases of
public importance in this area of practice include:
- The first case in New Jersey, and probably anywhere in
the nation, in which an appellate court held in a cross racial
identification case, that the state was compelled to hold a
line-up which included non-defendants; NJ v. Russell (1981)
- Rubin "Hurricane" Carter - was a member of the
legal team which helped win Mr. Carter, a well known professional
boxer wrongfully convicted of triple murder, his freedom in
court proceedings which lasted nineteen years. Involvement
spanned eight years; NJ v. Ruben "Hurricane" Carter
(1977 - 1985)
- Counsel in New Jersey Supreme Court's leading case establishing
the right of one accused of crime to secure independent counsel;
NJ v. Bellucci (1980)
- Counsel in a case securing an opinion from the New Jersey
Supreme Court limiting the ability of givernment to obtain a
wiretap when the wiretap orders were the product of abusive
government intrusion in the private matters of citizens;
NJ v. Jaffe (1980)
Medical-Legal - Medical Malpractice; Products Liability;
Negligence and Other Torts
As a certified civil trial attorney, was chief plaintiff's
counsel in more than a thousand civil actions involving personal
injury, medical malpractice, products liability and negligence
cases. Successfully tried numerous wrongful death cases. Obtained
substantial recoveries, as high as 1.2 million dollars.
In Medical-Legal area of practice, cases of public interest
included:
- Chief trial counsel in what is believed to be the first
case in which a New Jersey jury returned a liability verdict
against a doctor and nurses for the sucide death of their
patient; Mendes v. Thomas (1986).
- Counsel in appellate case establishing a new rule of law
which tolled the commencement of the statute of limitations
in cases where a minor was sexually abused and the resultant
psychological injury adversely affected the ability of the
victim to timely assert her rights; Jones v. Jones (1990)
- Counsel in wrongful death case representing family of
indigent man who had committed no crime, who burned to death
in Hudson County jail fire. Claim was based upon the violation
of the decedent's constitutional rights for failure of the
county to comply with reasonable standards, the violation of
which were actually the subject of a court order the prior
year in a federal action; Cepitello v. Hudson County (1986)
- Trial counsel in case which obtained, as of that date, what
is believed to be the highest recovery in a personal injury
suit against Rutgers, the State University based upon a breach
of security at the University; Levine v. Rutgers (1994)
Commercial Litigation
Engaged in a substantial commerical litigation practice. Among
other things, the Cassidy Law Firm was counsel to the governmental
banking regulatory agencies. When Congress created the RTC in 1989,
the law firm was the only law firm in New Jersey on the government's
approved list. The firm represented the FDIC and RTC in over ninety
bank failures. This work resukted in Mr. Cassidy being involved in
litigation involving many different kinds of financial transactions
from actions involving a 30 million dollar Wall Street participation
agreement to a $150,000,000.00 failed real estate project; he also
was counsel in litigation matters dealing with shareholder oppression,
and other commercial cases.
Commercial matters of public importance which Mr. Cassidy
handled included:
- Successfully defended, on behalf of the FDIC, the first
post-bank closing due process hearing in the history of New
Jersey; In Re Mountain Ridge State Bank (1991)
- Counsel in the case in which the New Jersey Supreme Court
struck down New Jersey's sheriff sale fees as violative of
Federal law and the supremacy clause; RTC v. Sheriff of
Monmouth County (1992)
- A number of Federal and State cases establishing precedent
construing the Federal statutory scheme governing the RTC,
including the first case in the third circuit establishing
the jurisdiction of that court to construe a federal statute
in a circumstance where the case was settled below and the
defendant - adversary was not a party to the appeal.
