Todd Drayton brings nearly 25 years of experience as a senior trial attorney to bear upon the firm’s personal injury trial practice. Mr. Drayton has devoted his entire career to representing the victims of negligence and has gained a notable reputation as an exceptionally skilled trial attorney. The passion and zeal he brings to each case greatly benefits our clients and law firm alike, and daily strengthens the firm’s long tradition of excellence in legal advocacy.
Mr. Drayton’s career as a civil trial attorney crosses multiple practice areas. He represents victims injured as a result of motor vehicle accidents, medical malpractice, slip and trip-related falls, dangerous or defective products, construction accidents as well as discrimination matters under New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination and Contentious Employee Protection Act, to name just a few.
Not just noted for appearing and arguing matters before New Jersey’s Appellate Division, Mr. Drayton has also prosecuted hundreds of state and federal defective pharmaceutical matters in states besides New Jersey, including California, Texas, Arizona, Missouri and numerous other states. Early in his career, Mr. Drayton litigated several high-profile, national insurance class actions, where he supervised and trained dozens of fellow attorneys.
Over his distinguished career, Mr. Drayton has helped secure millions of dollars in compensation for his clients. Among his recent victories, Mr. Drayton achieved a $2.25 million dollar verdict for a Hispanic single mother who slipped and fell on black ice in the parking lot of her employer. In his closing remarks in that case, Mr. Drayton artfully drew the jury’s attention to the contempt and neglect shown his client by her employer, who repeatedly refused to take her complaints seriously.
Of note, Mr. Drayton has been particularly successful in automobile accident cases requiring plaintiffs (i.e. the injured party) to overcome New Jersey’s extremely strong verbal threshold defense. The verbal threshold defense is universally exploited by defendants seeking to dismiss the plaintiff’s case long before a jury ever has a chance to decide whether and to what extent the plaintiff has suffered any compensable injuries.
While it is extremely impressive that Mr. Drayton has never lost a verbal threshold case, it is far more remarkable that all of Mr. Drayton’s verbal threshold trials have ended in unanimous verdicts for his clients. Indeed, Mr. Drayton has even prevailed in matters where the only documented medical injuries to his clients were those deficits which are commonly referred to as soft tissue injuries, such as bulging discs, muscle spasms and diminished range of motion. In all such cases, Mr. Drayton’s defense adversaries have unsuccessfully contended that there was no objective, medical proof of any injury which a jury could somehow deem to be “permanent.” Mr. Drayton, however, has successfully and consistently proven otherwise.
In addition to his trial work, Mr. Drayton has also appeared and argued significant matters before New Jersey’s Appellate Division, including the high-profile matter of Ruben Betancourt v. Trinitas Hospital. The Betancourt matter drew national attention as it involved the highly controversial “end-of-life” issue of whether or not Trinitas Hospital could unilaterally terminate life support to Reuben Betancourt – over the objection of his family – based upon the hospital’s internal opinion that continued treatment would be “medically futile.”
After Mr. Drayton successfully enjoined the hospital from taking such a drastic action, the hospital appealed. However, in a published opinion, the Appellate Division agreed with Mr. Drayton and several amicus curiae who appeared on behalf of the Betancourt family by dismissing the appeal and declaring moot all issues raised by the hospital. The Appellate decision therefore let stand the lower court’s ruling that prohibited Trinitas Hospital from unilaterally terminating Mr. Betancourt’s life-sustaining medical care. According to elder law and estate attorney, Donald Vanarelli, Esq., the nationally recognized “right to die” case of Betancourt was one of the most requested judicial opinions in 2009.
A true advocate for the rights of his clients, Mr. Drayton was also responsible for pioneering the prosecution another high-profile case in Union County, which cast light upon the vicious hate crime notoriously known in New Jersey as “poppy hunting.” In that case, a Hispanic father of eight was robbed and savagely beaten to death by five men who targeted him solely because of his race and undocumented status. The case marked the first time the Union County Prosecutor had ever prosecuted anyone under New Jersey’s bias crime statute.
Refusing to settle on a lawsuit against the five assailants, alone, Mr. Drayton sought remuneration from the parent and grandparents of one of the unemancipated minors who took part in the conspiracy and murder. Mr. Drayton took the position that the parent and grandparents were so reckless and willfully indifferent in their supervision and control of the minor that they were no longer entitled to parental immunity under the laws of New Jersey.
When the defendants moved to dismiss the matter, Mr. Drayton successfully defeated the motion, which was argued before the Honorable Karen M. Cassidy, A.J.S.C. (Union County) in August 2013. Judge Cassidy’s ruling is celebrated as a significant victory for plaintiffs, who continue to hold out hope that parents and legal guardians alike may one day be held responsible for the egregious misconduct of minors under their supervision.
In another prominent legal matter, Mr. Drayton was interviewed on camera by James Dolan of ABC’s Eyewitness News regarding the novel case of cyberbullying, which resulted in the suicide of Tyler Clementi, a young Rutgers University student, in September 2010.
The Tyler Clementi case garnered national and international headlines when the young freshman jumped from the George Washington Bridge to his death after a sexual encounter with him and another man was secretly broadcast over the internet by his roommate and another student. At the time Mr. Drayton’s appeared on ABC News, Mr. Dolan was investigating whether or not “hate crime” charges could be brought against the individuals accused of secretly making the broadcast. This case was one of the first cases that brought to the attention of the world the burgeoning issue of cyberbullying, to say nothing of the vicious hate crimes facing and committed against LGBT youth.
Prior to his admission to the bar, Mr. Drayton received his Juris Doctor degree from the Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At Temple, he also received several academic distinctions – among them, the highest honors for legal writing and research. Prior to law school, Mr. Drayton graduated from Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in Political Science and English. Mr. Drayton was inducted into the Sigma Tau Delta National English Honor Society and further distinguished himself as an exceptional undergraduate by receiving “Collegiate Scholastic All-American Scholar” and “Distinguished African-American Student” awards.
Mr. Drayton currently holds licenses to practice law in multiple jurisdictions, including New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He is also a member of the State Bar Association of each state.
Last but certainly not least, Mr. Drayton is a family man and a man of his community. He and his wife, Trina, are parents to four young, active children: Isabella, Sean, Noah and Samantha. He is also the founder, senior pastor and president of a local Christian church that he founded in Caldwell, New Jersey eight years ago. Whether he's coaching his youngest son's football team or serving as team photographer for his other children's athletic teams, all of Mr. Drayton's free time outside of the office is spent voluntarily serving others -- something he has done for decades in his professional practice.
