Hugh M. Turk
Member + 1983 + Hackensack
Phone Number: 201-342-0037
Email: Hturk@triallaw1.com
Address: 25 Main Street, Suite 602, Hackensack, NJ 07601
Practice Areas
Hugh Turk has been the member in charge of the firm’s New Jersey office since 1994. He is responsible for handling all New Jersey matters, from inception through trial, in each area of the firm’s practice.
A 1973 graduate of Duke Law School, Mr. Turk has spent his entire career in personal injury litigation. He is admitted to practice in the state and federal courts in both New Jersey and New York as well as before the United States Supreme Court. During his 33 years with Sullivan Papain, Mr. Turk has handled personal injury cases of all types — product liability, medical malpractice, motor vehicle accidents, general negligence and civil rights — and has achieved stellar results in the most difficult and unusual liability situations.
Since 1993, he has been designated by the New Jersey Supreme Court as a Certified Civil Trial Attorney, an achievement attained by less than 2 percent of all New Jersey attorneys. In 2006, he was selected to serve on the Board of Governors of the New Jersey Association for Justice and contributes to their continuing legal education programs. In addition to being active in several bar associations and charitable organizations, Hugh served four terms as an elected member of his town’s Borough Council and was its Police Commissioner and Chairman of its Public Safety Committee.
“There is no better feeling than helping others, whether through public service or volunteer activities, or by doing my best for our clients, many of whom have nowhere else to turn.”
Admissions/Courts:
- New Jersey
- New York
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals
- U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
Verdicts + Settlements
$9.5 million for a 67-year-old woman who suffered 2d and 3rddegree burns over 35 % of her body and lost her husband in an apartment building explosion.
$6 million over the wrongful death of a 65-year-old woman severely injured in a multiple vehicle highway accident.
More than $5 million for a 2 year old in a near drowning case. She had been taken by her nanny who was visiting another nanny, and while the two nannies chatted, no one was watching the children as she climbed into an above ground pool.
More than $5 million in a neonatal malpractice case in which the brain of a one month old baby was liquefied by the administration of an overdose of sodium chloride (salt). The baby lived for almost four years with only a brain stem.
More than $4.3 million for brain damage to an airport worker who walked into the rotating blades of a helicopter. Mr. Turk was able to establish that after parking the helicopter for re-fueling, the pilots, never returned the control stick to the neutral position, which would have raised the rotating blades to 8 feet above ground and avoided the accident.
$4 million in a surgical malpractice case when a thryoidectomy led to a respiratory arrest and severe brain injury when the patient’s throat closed down because the parathyroid glands were removed.
$3 million for a worker injured when he was electrocuted by a machine that he had hotwired.
$2 million in a medical malpractice case for a teenage girl who lost her leg to cancer when an x-ray showing the cancer was misread.
Awards and Recognition
Designated by the New Jersey Supreme Court as a Certified Civil Trial Attorney since 1993.
Named in Super Lawyers magazine as one of the top lawyers in New Jersey each year since 2005.
Received the highest rating (AV®) from Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings.
Member of the Board of Governors of the New Jersey Association for Justice since 2006.
Education
Duke University Law School • JD 1973
College of the Holy Cross • B.A. 1970
Professional Associations
New Jersey Association for Justice
American Association for Justice
Community Service
Served 12 years, or four terms, as an elected councilman in hometown of Hohokus, N.J. Also served as Police Commissioner and Chairman of Public Safety Committee.
Has served for a quarter-century on the Board of Trustees of the Worth Pinkham Memorial Public Library in Hohokus, N.J.
Served six years on the Board of Trustees, Academy of the Holy Angels, Demarest, N.J.
Extracurricular
In his time off, Mr. Turk enjoys golf, travel, and the company of his family and good friends.
Practice Areas
Awards + Memberships
