Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski, PC, is pleased to announce that Brandon Minde has become the Chair of the Criminal Law Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association for the 2020-2021 term. The Criminal Law Section, composed of members from the defense bar, prosecutor’s offices, and former members of the judiciary, deals with information and education concerning the improvement of the criminal justice system, and takes an active role in responding to developments which affect its membership and in suggesting methods through which the legal system can more effectively serve the interests of Criminal Law Section members and their clients. Toward that end, Brandon recently served as the Chair of the section’s Subcommittee on COVID-19 Challenges to Criminal Practice, which provided several recommendations for continuing the practice of law that were ultimately implemented by order of the NJ Supreme Court.
Brandon is a partner with the firm, is certified by the Supreme Court of NJ as a Criminal Trial Attorney, and leads DHD’s criminal defense practice.
As with everything, the COVID-19 emergency has affected the state boards that oversee the licensing of practitioners and conduct disciplinary actions. Below is a summary of the formal guidance that has been issued, as well as practical lessons learned, during this time.
Licensing
On April 17, 2020, New Jersey began a program to enlist foreign-licensed physicians to apply for a temporary emergency license to practice medicine in New Jersey. The temporary license will not extend beyond the current public health emergency. New Jersey is the first state in the country to implement this kind of program. Physicians who are licensed in a foreign country but living in the United States can apply to the program through the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs. The criteria for eligible candidates includes:
· Being in good standing;
· Having engaged in the clinical practice of medicine for at least five years;
· Having not been out of practice for more than five years;
· Having no disciplinary or criminal histories that preclude them from the program; and
· Providing copies of relevant documents to support their application, including their medical license, and information about their education and professional experience.
This adds to the efforts the state has already implemented regarding licensing for healthcare workers. On March 19, 2020, Governor Murphy signed legislation (A3862) to allow professional and occupational licensing boards to expedite licensure of out-of-state professionals. On April 6, 2020, Governor Murphy issued Executive Order 115, which allows certain retirees to return to public employment
Disciplinary Actions on Hold
Due to the COVID-19 emergency, it is unclear when state Boards will begin meeting again. Further, most state Boards are presently working with limited staff to handle non-emergent matters. Therefore, currently scheduled matters are being adjourned indefinitely.
State board actions are also affected by Governor Murphy’s Executive Order 127, issued on April 14, 2020, extending certain deadlines associated with rulemaking. EO 127 takes into consideration certain Executive Branch departments and agencies that remain subject to statutory deadlines imposed by the Administrative Procedure Act that require issuance, rejection, approval or modification of initial decisions, which includes state boards handling disciplinary actions. Typically, after a contested hearing, the statute provides 45 days after a hearing is concluded for a recommended report and decision to be issued. The state board, upon a review of the record submitted by the administrative law judge, then has another 45 days to adopt, reject or modify the recommended report and decision after receipt of such recommendations. EO 127 suspends these timelines by ordering that “[i]n any contested case…any pending deadline for filing of a recommended report and decision pursuant to N.J.S.A. 52:14B-10(c); and any pending deadline for adopting, rejecting or modifying a recommended report and decision, shall be extended by the number of days of the Public Health Emergency declared in Executive Order No. 103 (2020) plus an additional 90 days.”
Other Practical Considerations
Although the Board of Medical Examiners is not currently inclined to consider requests to reinstate currently suspended physicians, there are opportunities to assist those who have had state board action taken against them. For example, a medical practitioner who is currently ordered to pay monetary installments for purposes of paying a fine, restitution or fees, may be able to secure from the state board a postponement of that payment during the COVID-19 emergency based on financial hardship imposed by exceptional circumstances.
We are closely monitoring legal developments related to the COVID-19 crisis. If you have any questions about the bill or how the COVID-19 crisis may impact you or your health care facility, please contact us for a consultation.
For forty years, the lawyers at Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski, P.C., have represented doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals, as well as hospitals, nursing homes, and other health care facilities.
If your matter involves a medical licensing issue or state board action, please contact Brandon D. Minde at bminde@dughihewit.com. If your matter involves other COVID-19 legal issues or concerns, please contact Craig A. Domalewski at cdomalewski@dughihewit.com.
The information is provided solely for information purposes. It should not be construed as legal advice on any specific matter and is not intended to create an attorney-client relationship. The information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based upon particular circumstances. Each legal matter is unique, and prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski, PC, is pleased to announce that Brandon Minde was appointed to the New Jersey Supreme Court Working Group on the Duty of Confidentiality and Wrongful Convictions. Mr. Minde was appointed as the designee of the New Jersey State Bar Association. He is honored to be selected to join this working group consisting of esteemed judges and high ranking government attorneys, and is eager to get to work addressing these important topics.
Brandon is a partner with the firm, is certified by the Supreme Court of NJ as a Criminal Trial Attorney, and leads DHD’s criminal defense practice.
Bail reform is a hot topic and the public safety assessment (PSA) is a pretrial risk assessment that was introduced through the Criminal Justice Reform Act. In an article published by New Jersey Lawyer magazine, attorneys Brandon Minde and Elizabeth Farrell explore how effective representation for your client now requires an understanding of the PSA and its role in the detention analysis.
This article was originally published in the June 2019 issue of New Jersey Lawyer, a publication of the New Jersey State Bar Association, and is reprinted here with permission.
Social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) has impacted Americans’ lives in unpredictable and material ways and, unsurprisingly, now impacts preparing for and trying cases. As social media touches many aspects of the practice of law, effective and ethical advocacy now requires that every trial attorney develop social media literacy. In an article published by New Jersey Lawyer magazine, attorneys Brandon Minde and Elizabeth Farrell explore the role of social media in their recent federal trial and expand upon the lessons learned during the trial to help readers better prepare and navigate the use of social media in litigation.
This article was originally published in the April 2019 issue of New Jersey Lawyer, a publication of the New Jersey State Bar Association, and is reprinted here with permission.
The-Use-of-Social-Media-in-Preparation-For-and-During-Trial
Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski, PC, is pleased to announce that Brandon Minde was elected Chair-elect of the Criminal Law Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association for the 2019-2020 term at the NJSBA Annual Meeting. Mr. Minde will become Chair of the Criminal Law Section for the 2020-2021 term. The Criminal Law Section deals with information and education concerning the improvement of the criminal justice system, and takes an active role in responding to developments which affect its membership and in suggesting methods through which the legal system can more effectively serve the interests of Criminal Law Section members and their clients.
Brandon is a partner with the firm, is certified by the Supreme Court of NJ as a Criminal Trial Attorney, and leads DHD’s criminal defense practice.
The broad scope of the federal racketeering laws (RICO), along with evidentiary exceptions such as allowing otherwise impermissible hearsay from co-conspirators, are just some of the reasons the crime of racketeering conspiracy is known as “the prosecutor’s best friend.” A federal jury on Thursday found the top executives of Insys Therapeutics, a company that sold a fentanyl-based painkiller, guilty of racketeering charges in a rare criminal prosecution that blamed corporate officials for contributing to the nation’s opioid epidemic. Read about it here: NYTimes: Top Executives of Insys, an Opioid Company, Are Found Guilty of Racketeering
Brandon Minde is the head of Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski’s criminal law department, is a former prosecutor, and is certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Criminal Trial Attorney. He has represented clients in several major, federal racketeering trials.
Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski, P.C. is proud to announce that Brandon D. Minde, a trial partner and faculty member of the Practising Law Institute (PLI), will be presenting on New Jersey criminal trial preparation during the PLI’s New Jersey Basic CLE Marathon 2019 on Friday, May 3, 2019.
This one-day program is designed to help newly admitted attorneys fulfill the New Jersey newly admitted CLE requirements, but will benefit both experienced and newly admitted attorneys. The program will include New Jersey-specific instruction about subject areas required by the Supreme Court of New Jersey Board on Continuing Legal Education (BCLE) for newly admitted lawyers licensed in New Jersey. Mr. Minde’s criminal trial preparation segment will feature discussion on arrest, indictment and arraignment; discovery; status conferences, pre-trial conferences and pre-trial hearings; plea negotiations and agreements; trial – presentment of evidence and witnesses; post-trial motions; and recent developments.
Mr. Minde is the head of Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski’s criminal law department, is a former Essex County Assistant Prosecutor, and is certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Criminal Trial Attorney.
To register: https://www.pli.edu/programs/new-jersey-basic-cle-marathon?t=live&p=251592
Trial partner Brandon Minde successfully defended two psychiatrists in a Union County Superior Court action brought by a former school teacher seeking damages for an involuntarily psychiatric commitment resulting from alarming comments at a staff meeting to assess teen suicide and safety.
Mr. Minde proved that actions taken by the physicians were protected by NJSA: 30:4-27.7, which provides statutory immunity to healthcare professionals when making decisions regarding involuntary confinements necessary to protect an individual and/or safeguard the public.
The case was tried over two weeks before Judge Mega resulting in a defense verdict.
