Founded over forty years ago, our regionally recognized law firm has been protecting the rights of consumers and injured persons.
After serving as a Burlington County Prosecutor, Norman Shabel founded Shabel & Shabel in 1969, pioneering the field of personal injury litigation. In 1997, Stephen DeNittis joined the firm. In 2000, Mr. DeNittis became a named shareholder resulting in the firm undergoing a name change to Shabel & DeNittis, P.C. Over the last 40 years, we have become one of the premier regional class action and catastrophic personal injury practices in New Jersey. Our recognized and award winning lawyers have recovered over $70 million for our clients in cases we have handled in the last 10 years alone. We have successfully litigated over 100 class actions in the areas of consumer fraud, mass construction defects, overtime and wage and hour violations, environmental mass torts and Real Estate Settlement Procedure Act (RESPA) violations.
Shabel & DeNittis has also played a lead role in many notable and news worthy cases in the Country. For example, we recovered a $7 million verdict for an injured worker who sustained severe brain injuries in a slip and fall in a Ryder Truck parking lot in the case Ingling v. Rider Truck, which still stands as the largest recovery for a victim of a slip and fall ever recorded in the State of New Jersey. We were also lead plaintiff’s counsel in the class action DeMarco v. National Collector’s Mint which stands as a landmark case and a matter of first impression in Federal Court in the Southern District of New York obtaining a $9 million valued recovery for over 100,000 consumers allegedly defrauded when purchasing bogus coins minted to commemorate the 9/11 tragedy. We were also one of the principal plaintiffs’ counsel (part of a four attorney executive committee) in the matter France v. Merrill Lynch obtaining a $43 million recovery for over 22,000 Merrill Lynch financial advisors nationwide for alleged wage and hour violations and alleged illegal deductions from pay.
Over Forty Years Representing Persons Suffering Catastrophic Injury
In some of the most significant personal injury cases in New Jersey history, Shabel & DeNittis was plaintiff’s counsel, including Medeiros v. Cooper Hospital ($4.25 million medical malpractice settlement); Ingling v. Rider Truck ($7.1 million slip and fall settlement); Moore v. Sarappa ($1 million verdict obtained in 2011); along with several dozens of verdicts and settlements ranging in value between $400,000 and $1.5 million.
Significant Experience Representing Individuals Who Were Victims of Consumer Fraud
Shabel & DeNittis has pioneered numerous consumer fraud cases throughout the State and country. We have litigated cases ranging from illegal fees and charges in numerous false advertising cases to regulatory overcharges by real estate companies, title agencies, nursing homes and health clubs. Some examples of their work involved Real Estate Settlement Procedure Act (RESPA) violation cases which were well publicized against Weichert Realty, Prudential Fox & Roach, Keller Williams and Trident Title. These cases resulted in recoveries of hundreds of thousands of dollars for thousands of consumers throughout New Jersey. Shabel & DeNittis has also represented classes of individuals scammed and defrauded by companies selling bogus coins, deficient replacement windows, fraudulent weight loss products, fraudulent health club service contracts, and illegal fees for nursing home and assisted living services.
Significant Experience Representing Employees Against Employers for Labor Law Violations
Shabel & DeNittis have litigated numerous causes of action on a class action basis against numerous defendants for wage and hour violations, illegal deductions from pay, and minimum wage violations. Shabel & DeNittis has recovered millions of dollars for workers who were not paid properly, such as in France v. Merrill Lynch ($43 million settlement on behalf of 22,000 class members for alleged wage and hour violations and alleged illegal deductions from pay); Kaufmann v. Commerce Bank ($600,000 settlement for 132 financial advisors for alleged illegal deductions from pay and alleged overtime violations); Hyman v. TD Bank ($300,000 settlement for alleged overtime violations and illegal deduction from pay).
Significant Experience Representing Individuals with Homes Containing Severe Construction Defects
Since its founding, Shabel & DeNittis has been privileged to represent numerous individuals in various mass construction design defect class actions. For example, the firm was lead counsel representing thousands of homeowners with common construction defects in the cases Schmoll v. J.S. Hovnanian (settlement reached after two days of trial where defendant Hovnanian agreed to repair 989 patio homes in Mt. Laurel); Melnick v. Orleans Homebuilders (defendant Orleans agreed to repair mass construction defects in over 3,000 condominiums throughout Mt. Laurel valued at $1.4 million); Ward v. Orleans Homebuilders (a settlement where defendant agreed to repair over 250 condominiums with various common air conditioning construction defects); Felderstein v. Orleans Homebuilders (where defendant agreed to pay over $6,000 a home to repair 55 home with common construction defects dealing flashing and windows defects); and Barker v. PSE&G (wherein defendant PSE&G agreed to repair over 3,000 defectively designed gas meter sets throughout New Jersey resulting in new gas meter safety laws being adopted in New Jersey).
The above cases are just several examples of the notable cases which Shabel & DeNittis has litigated. Just as important are the numerous cases which we have successfully protected the rights of our clients in matters that were either subject to a confidentially agreement or may not have been reported in various publications but were nonetheless just as important for our clients’ interests. Every case we handle is equally important to us and we work diligently and aggressively in protecting our clients’ interests at all costs.