New Jersey Litigation Attorneys

Ramsey mayor will be interim attorney on Wyckoff zoning board

Botta, who is managing partner of Botta & Associates, LLC., in Ramsey , is expected to be at the zoning board's regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday, June 16, and a special session on the Christian Health Care Center's proposed senior residence, The Vista, scheduled for June 27.

According to his firm's website, Botta is a municipal prosecutor in Paramus and Park Ridge , and specializes in the defense of civil litigation against private clients and public entities. The website also says he has specific expertise in employment litigation and counsels individuals in real estate transactions, family law, estate planning, elder law and corporate foundation.

The board's attorney, Harold P. Cook, announced he was taking an unpaid leave of absence while misconduct charges filed against him are pending.

Cook's attorney, Salvatore T. Alfano, issued a release last week saying the judge was concerned that the charges, filed by a Supreme Court Advisory Committee, could have a negative impact on the municipal courts where he sits and the boards he serves as counsel.

Cook serves as a judge in Haledon , North Haledon , Ringwood and Wanaque and as attorney to the Elmwood Park Planning Board. He earns $296 per meeting in the township.

Zoning board chair Doug Christie said Wednesday, June 15, that the board accepted Cook's leave of absence during a closed session Tuesday, June 14, and are going to start the process of finding a replacement.

Christie said Botta was "highly recommended."

"He's a good land-use attorney as well as municipal employee so we felt he could give us good advice," Christie said.

Christie said the board will most likely put out a request for information and begin interviewing to have a permanent attorney by July.

"We don't want to waste any time of this," Christie said.

The nine-page complaint filed on May 19 by Candace Moody, disciplinary counsel for the ACJC, states that Cook has been sued personally and in his capacity as a member of more than 40 limited liability companies in 43 cases in the state Superior Courts.

Cook's position as a judge in four municipal courts in Passaic County requires that he notify the acting administrative director of New Jersey courts and the state chief justice of "personal involvement in any type of litigation" in which he is either named personally or is a "party in interest."

The complaint states that Cook's failure to report his involvement in the lawsuits constitutes violations of judicial canons. Furthermore, the complaint states, his position as a judge has been "severely compromised" and "irrevocably impaired" by his interests in the limited liability companies as a result of the lawsuits' allegations.

Greenbaum Attorney Stacy Manobianca Re-elected Chair of the Young ...

- Stacy M. Manobianca, an attorney in the Litigation Department of Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP, was re-elected as Chair of the Young Lawyers Division of the Essex County Bar Association.

Ms. Manobianca, a member of the firm’s Product Liability Practice Group, focuses her practice in complex product liability litigation involving motor vehicle manufacturers, premises liability and asbestos litigation. She is a member of the NJ State Bar Association and the NJ Women Lawyers Association. She previously served as Co-Chair of Essex County Law Day (2007-2010) and Judge of the Gibbons Interscholastic Moot Court Competition, Seton Hall University School of Law (2005-2009).

Ms. Manobianca received her B.A. from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and her J.D., cum laude, from Seton Hall University School of Law

Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP has over 100 attorneys in four main practice departments, Litigation, Real Estate, Corporate, and Tax, Trusts and Estates, and 19 practice areas offering comprehensive legal services. The firm has offices located in Woodbridge and Roseland, New Jersey. For more information, call Erin P. Faltin at 732-549-5600 or visit the firm's web site at www.greenbaumlaw.com .

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