Mike Pender

Pender & Strickland

Mike Pender Personal Injury Lawyer

Pender & Strickland

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Firm Summary

Michael J. Pender, Esq. is a Partner and founding member of Pender & Strickland, LLC.  Mr. Pender has been practicing law for over 25 years.  He is a Certified Civil Trial Attorney, a distinction earned by less than 3% of all lawyers in New Jersey.  This certification is earned based on years of handling civil cases from inception through jury trial. The certification process also requires passing an examination as well as evaluation and recommedation by judges and other lawyers who have been advesaries. (https://njcourts.gov/attorneys/attcert.html)

Mr. Pender has been also been recognized by his peers as a “Super Lawyer” in the area of personal injury, a distinction earned by less than 5% of attorneys practicing in New Jersey. (https://www.superlawyers.com/about/selection_process.html).

He also has been consistently rated by his peers as holding the highest standards (“AV”) for legal ability and ethics. (https://www.martindale.com/ratings-and-reviews/)

A significant portion of Mr. Pender’s practice involves handling cases referred by other lawyers which involve severe injury or death from products defects, construction accidents, motor vehicle collisions, electrical shock, medical negligence and other significant matters.

Prior to law school, Mr. Pender worked for the Division of Youth and Family Services in Essex County.

Profile by the ACBA: https://www.atcobaryld.com/mikepender

Education

• 1993: Rutgers University School of Law, Juris Doctor
• 1988: Rutgers University, BS

Clerkship

• 1993-94: New Jersey Superior Court, Civil Division, Honorable William L. Forester, J.S.C.

Admission to Practice

• New Jersey
• District Court of New Jersey
• United States Supreme Court

Professional Associations

• New Jersey State Bar Association
• Atlantic County Bar Association
• Cape May Bar Association
• Supreme Court of New Jersey, District 1 Ethics Committee, Member
• New Jersey Association for Justice

Personal Injury Practice Areas

• Personal injury law
• Medical malpractice
• Auto accidents
• Casino injuries and negligence
• Product liability
• Premises liability
• Wrongful death
• Construction Accidents

Experience – Mr. Pender’s Notable Results for Clients include:

• $8.8 million dollar jury verdict in a product liability claim against a crane manufacturer and employer which resulted in degloving injury and death of our client
• $6.35 million dollar settlement in a medical negligence and wrongful death claim against a hospital’s nurse and residents for failing to address our client’s internal bleed for 16 hours following a simple biopsy procedure. ­­­­­­­
• $5.5 million dollar settlement construction site fatality caused by a defective product. Our client was killed when a 10,000 pound piece of equipment being lowered from a crane suddenly cut through rigging straps, causing the load to fall onto our client killing him.
• $3.3 million dollar verdict for medical negligence and birth injury resulting from improper prescription of medicine to a pregnant mother.
• $2.7 million dollar settlement for a product liability and wrongful death claim against a government contractor which shipped military explosive material in a scrap metal shipment.
• $2.6 million dollar verdict for traumatic brain injury to our client in an automobile accident with a drunk driver.
• $2.25 million dollar settlement for constuction worker who sufferred severe injury from unprotected high voltage at a worksite.
• $2.0 million dollar settlement for traumatic brain injury to a teenage passenger whose mother’s car was broadsided by a another vehicle.
• $1.6 million dollar settlement in a premises liability and Architectural negligence matter which resulted in a fall by a sound technician from an unprotected 14’ balcony leaving our client partially deaf.
• $1.6 million dollar settlement for Product Liability. PTSD claim for our client who witnessed the death of his family member when a defective crane hook dropped a 1,000 pound load which caused the fatality.
• $1.1 million dollar settlement for car accident. Our clients, a husband and wife, were severally injured as backseat passengers in a vehicle that was t-boned at an intersection by a pick-up truck.
• $1-million-dollar settlement against Atlantic City casino for negligently serving alcohol to intoxicated patron who later drove the wrong way up the Brigantine Bridge.

Mahoney v. M.P, 168 NJ 202 (2001): The Supreme Court of New Jersey upheld the medical negligence verdict obtained on behalf our client in a wrongful death case resulting from the delayed diagnosis of cancer.

Ryan v. Renny 203 NJ 37 (2010): The Supreme Court of New Jersey held that a general surgeon, with vast experience performing colonscopies, could testify as an expert witness against a gastroenterologist who perforated our client’s bowel during the course of a routine procedure.

Holdsworth v. L.G., 345 NJ Super. 294 (A.D. 2001): The Appellate Court held that the surgeon, who removed the wrong section of our client’s bowel, requiring a second surgery which ultimately lead to the death of our client, was not entitled to a reduction in the jury’s award based on our client’s treatable preexisting colon cancer which did not cause his death.

Long v. Mercury Insurance, A-3238-10T1 (A.D. 2012): The Appellate Court held that our client was entitled to the full amount of underinsured motorist coverage, which he paid for, despite his insurance company’s effort to limit him to the lower policy amount of coverage from the car in which he was traveling.

Jones v. Sheraton Hotel, A-3827-12T4 (A.D. 2014): The Appellate Court found that the defendant hotel owner had a non-delegable duty to properly maintain its elevators and could not avoid responsibility for our client’s severe injuries.

Ahmed v. Hunt, A-5913-05T2 (A.D. 2007): The Appellate Court found that Trial Court erred in excluding medical evidence in support of our client’s motor vehicle accident case.  The case settled following the successful appeal.