What do we Mean When we say Government Enforcement has been Outsourced?

When most people think consumer fraud protection they imagine government agents going out into the field to inspect businesses, write tickets, and shut down bad-actors. As reports from the state Attorney General’s office can attest, these things do happen, but they are just one part of the state’s enforcement mechanism. A wide variety of regulations are also enforced via lawsuits brought by private attorneys effectively deputized as government enforcement agents.

By |2015-09-02T20:55:36-04:00September 2, 2015|News, Top Stories|0 Comments

Is Hardwood Flooring “Household Furniture?”

The New Jersey Civil Justice Institute has partnered with the United States Chamber of Commerce to file a friend of the court brief in a lawsuit that will answer this question. However, as you may have guessed, this lawsuit is about much more than flooring. This lawsuit could be the key to stopping out-of-control regulatory enforcement litigation under New Jersey’s Truth-in-Consumer Contract, Warranty and Notice Act.

By |2015-08-28T13:50:17-04:00August 28, 2015|News, Top Stories|0 Comments

Law Journal’s Judicial Survey is an Opportunity to Speak Out

The New Jersey Law Journal is currently conducting an anonymous survey assessing the legal community’s opinion of our state’s trial judges. This is one of the only opportunities New Jersey litigants have to make their true opinions about specific Superior Court judges known, so we encourage all of our members to take the survey before it closes on September 4.

By |2015-08-28T13:45:54-04:00August 28, 2015|News, Top Stories|0 Comments

Weird Regulatory Lawsuits Flooding New Jersey Courts, Blindsiding Businesses

The judicial system was not designed with business regulation in mind. Nevertheless, over the past few years New Jersey businesses have faced an increasing number of regulatory-based lawsuits, many of them quite frivolous in nature. These lawsuits are not being brought by the government, but by private attorneys empowered to enforce obscure business regulations on the government’s behalf.

By |2015-08-28T13:44:45-04:00August 28, 2015|News, Top Stories|0 Comments

Is Litigation the Best Way to Regulate Business?

A number of New Jersey’s state regulatory provisions specify statutory penalties for violations. Having a defined penalty enhances predictability and reduces inconsistent application of the law. When the statutes provide for enforcement actions by individual consumers, the statutory penalty model has the potential to provide the individual with a straightforward means of redress, often without need to even hire an attorney. Attorneys are getting involved though, and it is leading us toward a system where businesses are being regulated one jury at a time.

By |2015-08-21T14:38:32-04:00August 21, 2015|News, Top Stories|0 Comments
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