Todd Drayton | Attorney

Todd Drayton joined Martin Kane Kuper LLC in April 2008. Mr. Drayton's practice is concentrated in the area of civil litigation, where he represents plaintiffs in various personal injury actions, including medical malpractice, automobile accident, fall down, product liability and mass tort matters. In fact, Mr. Drayton currently manages the firm's mass tort department, which includes, for example, almost 70 clients with defective hip claims against Stryker Corporation and numerous other clients with claims against the manufacturers of Levaquin, a pharmaceutical drug linked to various tendon ruptures in the body. He also represents a smaller number of clients in municipal court matters and occasionally assists with the firm's defense litigation.

Recently, Mr. Drayton appeared before the Appellate Division and argued the matter of Ruben Betancourt v. Trinitas Hospital, a high profile case involving unique issues of medical futility, termination of life-sustaining medical care and a patient's constitutional right of self-determination. The matter was argued on April 27, 2010 and a decision from the Court is forthcoming. According to elder law and estate attorney, Donald Vanarelli, Betancourt was one of the most requested judicial opinions in 2009. See e.g., http://medicalfutility.blogspot.com/2009/11/betancourt-v-trinitas-most-requested-nj.html

Moreover, since oral argument, the case has continued to gather considerable attention in the media. See, e.g.,

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/04/nj_appellate_court_to_rule_on.html

http://njtoday.net/2010/04/30/trinitas-wants-ok-to-refuse-life-support-to-patients/

http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2010/05/new_jersey_needs_independent_p.html

Mr. Drayton also recently filed suit on behalf of the decedent's estate in Estate of Tista v. Glaspar, et. als., another high profile matter involving the 2007 beating death of an undocumented Hispanic father of eight in Plainfield. Estate of Tista highlights the hate crime which has notoriously come to be known as "poppy hunting," and marks the first time state attorneys in Union County have ever prosecuted anyone under New Jersey's bias crime statute. See e.g.,
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/family_of_plainfield_man_beate.html

Among some of his recent accomplishments, in January of this year, Mr. Drayton won a unanimous $250,000 verdict in Middlesex County Superior Court and another unanimous $48,000 verdict in Somerset County Superior Court in two motor vehicle accident cases where both plaintiffs claimed permanent injuries arising solely from disc herniations and bulges. In both cases, defendants unsuccessfully asserted defenses under New Jersey's verbal threshold law.

Prior to joining Martin Kane Kuper, LLC, Mr. Drayton practiced in the areas of product liability, pharmaceutical injury and asbestos litigation with the law firm of Seeger Weiss LLP of New York. Before that, he represented several hundred class members in individual mediations and arbitrations against top life insurance companies in connection with deceptive sales and market practices claims.

Mr. Drayton received his Juris Doctor from the Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While in law school, he received multiple honors and awards including the highest designations for legal writing and research. Mr. Drayton is also a graduate of Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia. As an undergraduate, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in Political Science and English, and was inducted into Sigma Tau Delta, National English Honor Society. He also received many other academic honors and awards, most notably "Collegiate Scholastic All-American Scholar" and "Distinguished African-American Student." More recently, Mr. Drayton was named a Cambridge Who's Who Among Executives and Professionals for 2007-2008.

Mr. Drayton is a multi-dimensional attorney whose litigation expertise crosses practice areas. He is admitted to practice before all courts in the State of New Jersey and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.