Opinion ID: 1894383
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Sufficient Reasons

Text: In S.E.W. Friel Co., supra, 73 N.J. 107 this Court addressed for the first time the sufficiency of reasons requirement under § 59:8-9 of the Act. There, this Court expressly adopted the approach of the California courts insofar as they have examined more carefully cases in which permission to file a late claim has been denied than those in which it has been granted, `to the end that wherever possible cases may be heard on their merits, and any doubts which may exist should be resolved in favor of the application.' Id. at 122 (quoting Viles v. California, 66 Cal. 2d 24, 423 P. 2d 818, 821, 56 Cal. Rptr. 666, 669 (1967)); see also Dyer v. Newark, 174 N.J. Super. 297, 300 (App.Div. 1980) (following Supreme Court's directive in S.E.W. Friel Co., supra ). The Court followed the California approach because our state's Tort Claims Act is modeled after the California Tort Claims Act of 1963. 73 N.J. at 122. Because the Act is silent about what constitutes sufficient reasons for failure to file a timely notice of claim, each case must be determined on the basis of its own facts. Our courts have found sufficient reasons to exist where there has been excusable neglect or mistake. See Kleinke, supra, 147 N.J. Super. at 580 (complex of factors created excusable neglect as tested by standard of reasonably prudent person under similar circumstances); Zwirn v. Hudson County, 137 N.J. Super. 99 (Law Div. 1975) (claimant's attorney misled by police to believe that roadway involved belonged to local public entities rather than State); see also Dyer, supra, 174 N.J. Super. 297 (late filing of survival action permitted where decedent's daughter was a grief-stricken person with limited education). See generally Margolis and Novack, Tort Claims Against Public Entities (1988), Comment to N.J.S. 59:8-9. Other courts have found sufficient reasons to exist where the claimant has suffered serious physical injuries and/or is out of state. See S.E.W. Friel Co., supra, 73 N.J. 107 (grievous injuries requiring out of state hospitalization for ninety days and confinement to home for one year); Kleinke, supra, 147 N.J. Super. 575 (out-of-state resident suffering from embolism near death); Marino, supra, 136 N.J. Super. 233 (quadriplegic hospitalized outside of state); Wade v. N.J. Turnpike Auth., 132 N.J. Super. 92 (Law Div. 1975) (several months hospitalization out of state). See generally Margolis and Novack, supra, Comment to N.J.S. 59:8-9. One court has found that sufficient reasons for late filing existed due to the complexity of the litigation. In Torres v. Jersey City Medical Center, 140 N.J. Super. 323 (Law Div. 1976), the claimant experienced difficulty in finding an attorney who was willing to undertake the litigation. There, the court held that [d]elay in obtaining legal advice due solely to the understandable reluctance of attorneys to handle a complex and difficult case of questionable value is excusable and understandable. Id. at 327. Inability to obtain representation, the court concluded, can be as incapacitating as a physical incapability. Ibid. Other courts have noted that ignorance of the statutory requirement may constitute sufficient reason for delay in filing. See Bell v. Camden County, 147 N.J. Super. 139 (App.Div. 1977) (noting ignorance of statutory requirement may be relevant consideration within the one year time interval); Keller, supra, 137 N.J. Super. 1 (accident occurring within thirteen months of adoption of the Act and claimant grief-stricken and without legal counsel  unaware of notice requirements). Courts have also declined to recognize sufficient reasons for delay in filing where the cause for delay has been the mere ambivalence of the claimant. See Lutz, supra, 153 N.J. Super. 461 (delay in filing due to claimant's indecision about whether to press claim). Courts have likewise rejected a claim of sufficient reasons based solely on the alleged inadequacy of counsel. See Fuller v. Rutgers, 154 N.J. Super. 420 (App.Div. 1977) (claimant aware of potential cause of action but delayed acting because of alleged erroneous advice of attorney), certif. den., 75 N.J. 610 (1978); Bell, supra, 147 N.J. Super. 139 (attorney did not adequately assess facts to discern cause of action against entity); Roy, supra, 142 N.J. Super. 594 (asserted inability of plaintiff's counsel to ascertain names of particular public employees irrelevant where such names not needed to present claim); DeMendoza v. N.J. Transit Bus Operations, Inc., 194 N.J. Super. 607 (Law Div. 1984) (insufficient reasons where attorney failed to discover defendant was a state agency). See generally Margolis and Novack, supra, Comment to N.J.S. 59:8-9. A review of the above decisions thus reveals that a finding of sufficient reasons is not, as defendants suggest, limited to circumstances where a claimant is severely injured or incapacitated. Rather, the cases indicate that trial courts consider combinations of factors when exercising their discretionary authority to grant extensions of time. What constitutes sufficient reasons, therefore, will vary from case to case; it is not a static requirement. In finding that plaintiffs had stated sufficient reasons for failing to comply with the ninety-day filing requirement, the trial court noted the severity of plaintiffs' injuries, their efforts to investigate the activities at the landfill, and the very nature of the tort involved. Based on our independent review of the record, as well as our appreciation for the novelty and complexity of toxic tort litigation, we are persuaded that the trial court's decision to permit a late filing did not constitute an abuse of discretion. This is particularly so given the liberality with which we instructed trial courts to regard such requests in S.E.W. Friel Co., supra, 73 N.J. at 122. Like the trial court, we find plaintiffs' stated reasons to be persuasive under the circumstances. In our view, this case does not fall within that category of cases in which trial courts have failed to find sufficient reasons for delay due to plaintiff's ambivalence in pressing a claim. See Lutz, supra, 153 N.J. Super. at 466. On the contrary, the record before us indicates that plaintiffs exercised reasonable care and diligence in assembling a case of formidable dimensions and complexity. In Ayers v. Jackson Township, supra, 106 N.J. at 579, we recognized the enormous difficulties that both law and science face in attempting to deal with the consequences of years of inadequate and improper waste disposal practices. We noted there that [i]n addition to the staggering problem of removing  or at least containing  the hazardous remnants of past practices, there remains the moral and legal problem of compensating the human victims of past misuse of chemical products. Id. at 580. It is primarily the nature of toxic torts that compels us to agree with the trial court's determination that plaintiff set forth sufficient reasons to permit the late filing of claim. Due to the nature of a toxic tort claim, the most difficult problem for plaintiffs to overcome ... is the burden of proving causation. Id. at 585. In addition to the difficulties presented by an often lengthy latency period between exposure and manifestation of disease, toxic tort plaintiffs encounter the further difficulty of identifying a large number of entities who are potentially responsible for improper waste disposal over a period of many years. We find plaintiffs' efforts to identify the parties responsible for creating the toxic conditions at the landfill to be sufficient reason alone to excuse noncompliance with the ninety-day filing requirement. In Ayers, supra, 106 N.J. at 587, we acknowledged the array of complex practical and doctrinal problems that confound litigants and courts in toxic-tort mass-exposure litigation.... We noted there that identification of the parties responsible for environmental damage[] is one of the practical difficulties endemic to mass exposure litigation.... Id. at 581-82. In the instant case, plaintiffs undertook to identify those entities who deposited toxic waste in the landfill over the course of many years. This research required plaintiffs to make periodic visits to the offices at the DEP in Trenton, where they examined the voluminous records kept there concerning Global. It took plaintiffs a considerable amount of time to compile the data necessary to name the defendants herein. As one commentator has noted, [d]efendants who [may be potentially] liable for generating and tortiously disposing of toxic waste should not escape liability merely because of the latent character of the harm they create and the difficulty of identifying a legally responsible party. Developments-Toxic Waste, supra, 99 Harv.L.Rev. at 1607 (emphasis added). We are thus satisfied that plaintiffs' efforts to identify the responsible parties contributed substantially to what we conclude was a justifiable delay. Further proof that plaintiffs did not merely sit on their rights is provided by the fact that they attempted between March and October 1986 to compile data concerning the medical status of area residents. The medical questionnaires that plaintiffs prepared and distributed during this time period provided an appropriate means of ascertaining the identity of potential plaintiffs in a mass-exposure case of this type. The time invested in designing, distributing, and analyzing the results of such questionnaires can be reasonably interpreted as having contributed to plaintiffs' delay in filing a notice of claim. This cause for delay is simply endemic to a mass-exposure case, in which there is a large plaintiff class whose members suffer from varied ailments. In sum, we find that the investigations plaintiffs undertook to identify both the plaintiff and defendant classes contributed to the delay in filing and provided sufficient reasons to permit a late notice of claim under § 59:8-9. The trial court thus acted well within its discretion when it concluded that plaintiffs' efforts to investigate the activities at GLOBAL LANDFILL and the very nature of the tort involved established `sufficient reasons' for the plaintiffs' delay in filing this motion.