The following proposed bill is pending before the New Jersey Assembly.
“Pending before the Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee is A-1444, which would amend the Consumer Fraud Act by eliminating awards of attorney's fees, filing fees and costs for technical violations of the act.
A-1444 defines a technical violation as one where the person found to have violated the law made a good faith effort to comply and the violation did not impact the quality of the product or service or result in an ascertainable consumer loss.
A repeat violation, however, would not be deemed technical if the person was aware of the original violation and had time to correct the problem.
The legislation would not apply to actions brought by the attorney general.
The bill, not yet scheduled for a committee vote, has bipartisan sponsorship from Mercer Democrat Reed Gusciora and Sussex Republican Gary Chiusano.
First introduced in 2006, it won Assembly approval in 2010 but failed to make it out of the Senate Commerce Committee.”
If it passes, it would be significant change in the law for the home improvement industry. A customer-turned-plaintiff’s potential recovery would be markedly affected.
