JudgeONeill@sidebarsolutions.legal – 908-963-2236 (c)

Michael F. O’Neill, J.S.C. (Ret.) was appointed to the Superior Court bench in February 2013. He was initially assigned to the Family Division of Somerset County Superior Court.  In September 2014, he was assigned to the Civil Division of Hunterdon County Superior Court, where he sat until reaching mandatory retirement age in February 2023.  As the sole civil judge assigned to Hunterdon County Superior Court from 2014-2023, Judge O’Neill oversaw over all civil matters filed in the county. Additionally, he was assigned to case manage all environmental filings in Vicinage XIII, as well as a variety of complex insurance coverage disputes.  He also served as the designated Probate Part (Chancery Division) judge for Hunterdon County  and as  the Presiding Judge of the Special Part in Vicinage XIII (Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren counties).  From 2020-2024, he served as a member of the New Jersey Supreme Court Civil Practice Committee.  

During his tenure in the Civil Division, Judge O’Neill resolved thousands of Law  and Chancery Division ( Probate) matters through settlement, jury and non-jury trials.  His docket included class actions, prerogative writ actions, probate matters, legal and medical malpractice suits, a wide array of employment discrimination   and contract claims, as well as all types of personal injury suits.  He case managed complex bodily injury and property damage matters and related “long-tail” insurance coverage disputes. Such cases typically involved allegations of defective products being placed into the stream of commerce, resulting in mass tort bodily injury and/or property damage claims, sometimes implicating decades of liability insurance coverage.  In the land-use field, he presided over cases covering a wide range of zoning and development rights issues.   In the class action arena, Judge O’Neill presided over a variety of matters, ranging from alleged securities law violations to consumer fraud claims.  In one of the more high profile class actions filed in New Jersey, he oversaw and ultimately approved  the multi-million-dollar settlement of a suit filed on behalf of inmates at the Edna Mahon Correctional Facility for Women. 

Prior to serving in the judiciary, Mr. O’Neill was in private practice with the Bedminster, New Jersey law firm of Purcell, Mulcahy, O’Neill & Hawkins.  (“Purcell”).  He was a senior partner at the firm for over 25 years, handling a wide variety of civil litigation.  While in private practice, Mr. O’Neill specialized in the handling of complex insurance matters and developed expertise in the fields of  products liability, professional liability, corporate/commercial disputes, construction litigation, employment contracts and disputes, land-use/zoning, intellectual property disputes, environmental cleanup, mass toxic torts, personal injury, and property damage litigation. 

 Commencing in the late 1980s, Mr. O’Neill chaired the firm’s complex insurance coverage practice group. From the late 1980s through the early 2000s, Mr. O’Neill and the Purcell firm served as lead counsel to The Hartford Insurance Group  of Insurance Companies in multi-party, complex environmental insurance coverage disputes, filed in New Jersey state and federal courts. 

In 2005, Mr. O’Neill became co-chair of the firm’s Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”) practice group.  He was on the roster of approved mediators for New Jersey’s state-wide civil mediation program, having successfully completed the civil mediation training course approved by the Administrative Office of the Courts.

Mr. O’Neill served as a Counselor of the Joseph Halpern American Inn of Court from 1995 through 1999.  He was certified as a Civil Trial Attorney by the New Jersey Supreme Court Board on Attorney Certification from 2004 until his appointment to the bench in 2013 and was recognized as one of the “Best Lawyers in America” (2006–2013).  His bar admissions included the state and federal courts in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.  

Mr.  O’Neill is a 1975 graduate of St. Francis College (PA). He earned his J.D. degree (cum laude) from Seton Hall University School of Law in 1980, where he served as the Editor in Chief of the Seton Hall Law Review.  Upon graduation from law school, he served as law secretary to the Honorable Mark A. Sullivan, Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court (1980-1981 term).

Experience in mediating sexual abuse lawsuits 

Since retiring from the New Jersey Superior Court bench in February 2023, Judge O’Neill has developed specialization in the mediation of claims involving alleged sexual abuse of minors. Many of those lawsuits involve related complex insurance coverage disputes. To date, he has successfully mediated cases filed against several religious organizations, boards of education and other non-profit organizations.  For example, he has served as mediator in lawsuits filed in New Jersey against the Clinton Board of Education, Leonia Board of Education, Madison Board of Education, Edison Board of Education and Hillsdale Board of Education, and is currently serving as mediator in consolidated lawsuits involving claims pending against the Diocese of Metuchen, the Diocese of Paterson, the Roman Catholic  Archdiocese of Newark, and  the  Diocese of Trenton.