e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
claims brought under New Jersey’s Constitution;
claims brought under the federal Constitution;
claims brought under a federal statute;
claims brought under New Jersey’s Civil Rights Act; and
retaliation claims brought under New Jersey’s Conscien-
tious Employee Protection Act (CEPA) (also known as the
Whistleblowing Act).
Thus, if a law enforcement officer is contemplating bringing
one or more of the above nine causes of action, he or she need
not file tort claim notice as a prerequisite to filing a lawsuit.
It should be noted that some attorneys still file tort claim no-
tice for these nine causes of action for strategic reasons. The
only downside to filing in such a circumstance is that it gives
the employer advance notice that the law enforcement officer
is contemplating a lawsuit. Such advance notice could have a
negative impact on the lawsuit of the law enforcement officer.
For that reason, communication between the law enforcement
officer and his or her attorney is vital so that the pros and cons
of such a decision can be discussed.
Despite these nine exceptions, there are still times that a law
enforcement officer would be required to file tort claim notice
as a prerequisite for filing a lawsuit. A non-exhaustive list of
those claims that would require tort claim notice would be the
following
a. claims of assault;
b. claims of battery;
c. claims of slander (oral defamation);
d. claims of libel (written defamation);
e. claims of malicious prosecution;
f. claims of false arrest;
g. claims of false imprisonment;
h. claims of abuse of process;
i. claims of fraud; and
j. claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Thus, if a law enforcement officer is contemplating bring-
ing one or more of these 10 causes of action, tort claim notice
consisting of the six pieces of information noted above must be
filed within 90 days of the cause of action accruing.
If tort claim notice is required, the law enforcement officer
must also wait 180 days (six months) from the date he or she
files tort claim notice to file his or her lawsuit. Under the Tort
Claims Act, that six-month period of time is supposed to give
the public enti ty time to investigate the claim. Such an inves-
tigation rarely happens, and the six-month period of time just
becomes an additional obstacle delaying the lawsuit.
If the lawsuit of a law enforcement officer combines some
causes of action that require tort claim notice with other causes
of action that do not, the law enforcement officer may imme-
diately file his or her lawsuit based upon those causes of action
that do not require tort claim notice while simultaneously filing
a tort claim notice. Then, after the six-month period of waiting
has elapsed, the law enforcement officer can move to amend
his or her lawsuit to include the additional causes of action that
he or she could not immediately claim. In that way, his or her
lawsuit is not unreasonably delayed. d
A former municipal police officer, county corrections officer and
municipal prosecutor, Stuart J. Alterman has represented law
enforcement officers for more than 25 years in all areas of em-
ployment issues. He is a NJ State PBA Lifetime Silver Card recip-
ient. Arthur J. Murray, who has extensive practice in the Office of
Administrative Law in Law Enforcement Disciplinary Matters,
contributed to this report.
www.njcopsmagazine.com
■ AUGUST 2017 25