N.J. AWARD SNOWBALLED:

A New Jersey judge cut in half an $850,000 award given to a man who sued police after he was found unconscious on a snowbank after getting drunk at a party. Frederick Puglisi of Old Tappan left a New Year’s Eve party at a hotel in the early hours of Jan. 1, 2001. He was found behind a restaurant nine hours later with a frostbitten hand. Puglisi claimed Bergen County police received a call from a passer-by about 1 a.m., but that the police dispatcher didn’t get enough information from the caller, didn’t pass enough information to Ramsey police and that the officers did not look thoroughly or leave their vehicles during a short, unsuccessful search. A jury awarded him the money, but Superior Court Judge Charles J. Walsh said that the amount would be cut in half. “There is no way I’m going to let this verdict stand,” Walsh said. “If you want to know what my conscience tells me, I was shocked by that award.” State law allows judges to change monetary awards by juries if the amount is considered too much or too little.