In New Jersey, A Class Action is Not Appropriate for Telephone Consumer Protection Act (Unwanted Faxes) Claims

Local Baking Products, Inc. v. Kosher Bagel Munch, Inc., 421 N.J. Super. 268 (App. Div. 2011).  The Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. §227 (“TCPA”), prohibits the sending of unsolicited faxes.  The TCPA allows recipients of unwanted faxes to sue ...

No Consumer Fraud Act “Ascertainable Loss” Where Defendant Erroneously Sold Plaintiffs Food That Violated Their Religious Beliefs

Gupta v. Asha Enterprises, LLC, 422 N.J. Super. 136 (App. Div. 2011).  Many religious believers have dietary restrictions.  When they purchase food that is represented as being acceptable under those dietary laws, they expect that those representations are true.  But ...

Judges Hayden, Ostrer and St. John are Elevated to the Appellate Division

Chief Justice Rabner announced today that, effective August 1, 2011, Judges Hayden, Ostrer and St. John were all being elevated to the Appellate Division.  All three of those judges were previously assigned temporarily to the Appellate Division. ...

A Rarity: The Supreme Court Will Answer Questions Certified to it by the Third Circuit

Rules 2:12A-1 et seq. provide a procedure under which the Third Circuit Court of Appeals can certify a question of law to the Supreme Court of New Jersey “if the answer may be determinative of an issue in litigation pending ...

N.J.S.A. 2A:23A-18b Does Not Always Bar Further Appeal of Arbitration Awards After Proceedings in the Law Division

Open MRI & Imaging v. Mercury Ins. Group, 421 N.J. Super. 160 (App. Div. 2011).  N.J.S.A. 2A:23A-18b, p;art of the Alternative Procedures for Dispute Resolution Act (“APDRA”), provides that “[u]pon the granting of an order confirming, modifying or correcting an [APDRA] ...

City/State Location of Calls to/from Public Employees’ Government-Provided Cellphones are Not Private

Livecchia v. Borough of Mount Arlington, 421 N.J. Super. 24 (App. Div. 2011).  North Jersey Newspapers Co. v. Passaic Cty. Bd. of Freeholders, 127 N.J. 9 (1992), held that “the people and places [a public official] calls on a telephone” were exempt from ...

Oral Argument on Substantive Civil Motions Under Rule 1:6-2(d): A Modest Proposal

LVNV Funding, LLC v. Colvell, 421 N.J. Super. 1 (App. Div. 2011).  This opinion, by Judge Koblitz, reversed summary judgment for a creditor on a revolving credit card account and discussed the proper way to prove such a case.  More ...

Wal-Mart v. Dukes- Predictably, Another Anti-Class Action Decision by the U.S. Supreme Court

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 131 S.Ct. 2541 (2011).  The decision in this closely-watched employment discrimination putative class action, near the end of the current term of the Supreme Court of the United States, was not a surprise.  The current Supreme Court is, ...

29 Years Since Crowe v. DeGioia

On July 8, 1982, the Supreme Court decided Crowe v. DeGioia, 9o N.J. 126 (1982).  The case has become the standard authority for the criteria for issuing preliminary injunctive relief.  But attorneys and judges rarely have occasion to focus on other legal ...

Detectives Did Not Violate Privacy of Husband by Suggesting That Suspicious Wife Put GPS in Husband’s Vehicle to Track His Travels

Villanova v. Innovative Investigations, Inc., 420 N.J. Super. 353 (App. Div. 2011).  A wife suspected her husband of infidelity.  She consulted defendant private detectives, who suggested that she place a GPS tracking device in her husband’s vehicle to track his ...