Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Werner
Strawbridge Professional Center
212 West Route 38; Suite 200
Moorestown, New Jersey 08057
(856) 380-4062
(609) 265-9637 (Fax)
_______________________________________
: SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY
EDWARD G. WERNER, LAW DIVISION
: MERCER COUNTY
The Plaintiff, Edward G. Werner, by way of Verified Complaint against the Defendant, alleges as
follows:
INTRODUCTION
1. The Plaintiff is an individual citizen of the State of New Jersey. From December 27, 2005
through July 16, 2008 he served as the head of the New Jersey State Government Agency charged with
compensating innocent victims of crime. During his tenure in that capacity, the agency had several
incarnations. It had been known as the Victims of Crime Compensation Board (December, 2005-July
2007), the Victims of Crime Compensation Agency (July, 2007-July 2008), and the Victims of crime
Compensation Office (July 2008-present). The statutes, administrative code, case law, and other
sources refer to the agency by time appropriate nomenclature. For purposes of economy of verbiage
and clarity, this Complaint will refer to it in its current form, The Victims of Crime Compensation Office
(“VCCO”).
2. The Defendant, The New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, (“L&PS”), is a public
agency of the State of New Jersey and is a principal department of the Executive Branch of the State
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3. Pursuant to Executive Order of Governor Jon S. Corzine, the VCCO was made a part of the
L&PS
on July 1, 2008.
4. Under statute NJSA 52:4B-1 et seq, the VCCO is to compensate innocent victims of violent
crime
5. Under statute 2C:43-3.1 the VCCO receives funds from assessments paid by defendants in the
various criminal and municipal courts throughout New Jersey. These assessments constitute a
plurality
DIVERSION OF FUNDS
6. Attached as exhibit “1” is the Annual report of the VCCO for State Fiscal Year 2009 (“SFY09”)
i.e.
July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009. According to page thirteen of said Annual Report, VCCO revenues
for SFY09 totaled $22,914,759.91. Of that revenue, $9,580,000 came in the form of federal grants
under the Federal Victims of Crime Act and $8,676,759.91 from New Jersey state sources. The VCCO
asserts it received only $467,576 from assessments paid by defendants in the various
7. Contrary to the VCCO SFY09 Annual report, the VCCO received approximately $500,000 per
month from assessments paid by defendants in courts throughout New Jersey. Attached as exhibit “2”
Penalty Revenue reports, even the incomplete response reveals the VCCO received approximately
8. As more fully explained in the attached Brief, these funds by law may only be spent to
9. According to page 6 the VCCO Annual Report for SFY09, the VCCO paid only $5,561,608.21 to
10. As of March 31, 2009, the VCCO only reported receiving $2,181,648.72. This figure includes
assessments and funds collected from prison and jail commissaries throughout New Jersey. Obviously,
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the funds collected to compensate victims is being diverted elsewhere . Attached as exhibit “3” is the
11. The amount paid to victims is historically very low. Below is a chart comparing the volume
of
work produced by the VCCO for SFY07 and SFY08 versus SFY09:
12. The financial statement reveals that the funds that were to have been spent only for the
compensation of innocent victims of violent crime were diverted to other purposes in violation of
both the statutes governing the VCCO and of the criminal law (see attached brief).
13. In order to accomplish this diversion, the VCCO adopted policies to deny or delay the payment
of claims. Below is a comparison of the payments to victims for SFY08 and SFY09.
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: :
Non DWI, Non DWI,
DUI DUI
*Source: Victims of Crime Compensation Office Monthly Crime Paid by Type Report
14. The decision to alter VCCO policies to unreasonably delay and deny the payment of crime
victims’ claims is not only devastating for the victims, it is detrimental to the agency. The VCCO
federal
grant is calculated by the federal government as the product of funds paid from New Jersey State
sources other than tax revenue multiplied by 60%. Consequently, the future federal grants will be
reduced as a direct consequence of the VCCO’s failure to properly process victims’ claims.
Attached as exhibit “6” is a September 9, 2008 correspondence to Assistant Attorney General Shavar
Jeffries explaining the importance of processing claims expeditiously in order to maintain the recurring
15. The Plaintiff has no response from Mr. Jeffries or anyone else from the Department of Law
and
A. Enter an Order declaring declaring the Department of Law and Public Safety, through the
VCCO,
has wrongfully diverted funds from innocent victims of violent crime in violation of NJSA 2C:43-3.1;
B. Requiring the Department of Law and Public Safety to account for the funds received from
assessments by defendants in courts throughout New Jersey for State Fiscal Year 2009;
C. Maintain jurisdiction over this matter until the Department of Law and Public Safety comes
into
D. Order the Department of Law and Public Safety to implement standard guidelines for the
processing of claims mindful of the statutory and common law mandates to be liberal in its policies
to achieve the underlying objective of compensating innocent victims of violent crime; and
E. Grant such other and additional and further relief to the Plaintiff as the Court deems just and
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equitable.
Pursuant to the provision of Rule 4:5-1, the undersigned pro se attorney and Plaintiff certifies the
matter is not the subject of any other pending action in any other court or arbitration proceeding.
In the interest of full disclosure, the Plaintiff is also the Plaintiff in Case No. MER-L-600-09 (Werner v.
State of New Jersey, Milgram, and Jeffries).
______________________________
Edward G. Werner
Strawbridge Professional Center
212 West Route 38, Suite 200
Moorestown, New Jersey 08057
(856) 380-4062
(609) 265-9637 (F)
Plaintiff Attorney Pro Se
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VERIFICATION
I am the pro se Plaintiff in this matter. I have reviewed the foregoing Verified
Complaint in its
entirety and the statements made therein are true and correct to the best of my
personal knowledge.
DATED:
___________________________
Edward G. Werner
Plaintiff pro se