Dennis M Baptista

Biographical Information

As a Certified Workers Compensation Law Attorney, with over twenty five years of experience, Dennis Baptista has earned a well-deserved reputation among the workers compensation bar for being a respected practitioner of great integrity and skill. Mr. Baptista has litigated numerous complicated workers compensation cases including claims involving accidental injuries, occupational diseases, repetitive motion injuries, total permanent disabilty and work related death. He obtained an Appellate Division decision in Medical Diagnostic Associates vs. Hawruluk which prevents medical providers from suing injured workers for the payment of medical bills while their workers compensation claims are being litigated. He is a frequent speaker for the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education where he instructs other lawyers in the handling of workers compensation claims.

Mr. Baptista began his legal career at the law firm of Javerbaum & Wurgaft in 1985 as an Associate handling primarily workers' compensation litigation. From 1987 thru 2003, he practiced law in Elizabeth, NJ with Franz & Baptista, PC, where he developed  a statewide, high volume workers' compensation litigation practice. He later returned to the Javerbaum firm from 2003 thru 2011 to serve as Chairman of the Workers Compensation Department with offices in Newark and Springfield, NJ. In April of 2011 he joined the law firm of Livingston Siegel DiMarizo Baptista, LLP, a firm with a rich history of workers rights advocacy, pro-unionization of the workplace and is especially known for its zealous representation of injured workers in the compensation courts.

A leader in the community, Mr. Baptista was recently reappointed to his second three-year term as Judge of the Phillipsburg Municipal Court. Prior to his judicial appointment he served for ten-years as Commissioner of the Phillipsburg Housing Authority with a mission to provide safe, sanitary and affordable housing for the area's working poor. The Phillipsburg Housing Authority achieved "High Performer" status, HUD's highest possible rating of a housing authority, for each year that Mr. Baptista served as Commissioner.