Edward G.

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

Plaintiff, : DOCKET NO.

v.
:
STATE OF NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT CIVIL ACTION
OF LAW AND PUBLIC SAFETY, :

Defendant. : VERIFIED COMPLAINT

_______________________________________

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

Government of New Jersey.

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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

for costs incurred as a result of the 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

of the funds received by the VCCO to reimburse crime victims.

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

courts throughout New Jersey . (See page 13 of exhibit 1)

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

$5,954,241 from assessments. (See attached Brief for explanatory calculation).

8. As more fully explained in the attached Brief, these funds by law may only be spent to

compensate innocent victims of violent crime.

9. According to page 6 the VCCO Annual Report for SFY09, the VCCO paid only $5,561,608.21 to

compensate crime victims.

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

VCCO monthly financial statement for March 31, 2009.

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:

Claims Claims Closed Percentage Total Dollar Average Per

Paid with No Award Paid/Denied Amount Paid Claim
SFY 2007 2720 620 81.4%/18.6% $16,480,795 $6059
SFY 2008 2331 728 76.2%/23.8% $13,434,467 $5763
SFY 2009 1242 1115 52.7%/47.3% $5,561,608 $4478
*Source: Victims of Crime Compensation Office Monthly Claims Report

Monthly Claims reports are attached hereto as exhibit “4”.

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.

State Fiscal Year 2008 State Fiscal Year 2009 Difference

Crime Pay- Amount Crime Pay- Amount Pay- Amount Paid

ments Paid ments Paid ments

Physical 2198 $5,825,224 Physical 978 $2,374,617 -1220 -$3,450,607

Assault Assault
Domestic 1074 $2,430,156 Domestic 389 $697,262 -685 -$1,732,894
Violence Violence
Homicide 642 $2,314,706 Homicide 344 $1,085,020 -298 -$1,229,686

Sexual 703 $896,138 Sexual 263 $366,541 -440 -$529,597

Assault Assault

Child 65 $118,604 Child 28 $52,389 -37 -$66,215

Abuse: Abuse:
Physical Physical
Assault Assault
Child 639 $827,123 Child 297 $197,801 -342 -$629,322
Abuse: Abuse:
Sexual Sexual
Assault Assault
Vehicular 67 $301,399 Vehicular 17 $46,370 -50 -$255,029
: :
DWI, DUI DWI, DUI
Vehicular 94 $285,459 Vehicular 30 $90,987 -64 -$194,472

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: :
Non DWI, Non DWI,
DUI DUI
*Source: Victims of Crime Compensation Office Monthly Crime Paid by Type Report

Attached as exhibit “5” are VCCO Monthly Paid by Crime reports.

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

revenue stream from the federal government.

15. The Plaintiff has no response from Mr. Jeffries or anyone else from the Department of Law
and

Public Safety or the VCCO.

WHERFORE, Plaintiff respectfully asks the entry of final judgment as follows:

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

compliance with the VCCO statutes referenced herein;

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.

CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO RULE 4:5-1

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

Dated December 22, 2009

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 VERIFICATION

Edward G. Werner hereby verifies the following:

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