The Appellate Division does not issue many opinions in August, as the judges clean up remaining inventory. But there have been some significant published opinions in the last two weeks. Here are summaries of some of those rulings: Harvard v. State, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2019). Plaintiff in this appeal was a Special Civil Part Officer in the Atlantic/Cape May County vicinage. The vicinage learned of numerous violations of directives of the Administrative Office of the Courts upon an investigation of plaintiff’s financial record. The Assignment Judge of the vicinage terminated...

Cameron v. South Jersey Pubs, Inc., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2019). As discussed here, in Dugan v. TGI Friday’s, Inc., 231 N.J. 24 (2017), the Supreme Court rendered a split decision on class certification in two consolidated consumer action cases involving drink prices at TGI Friday’s restaurants. Those cases sought damage classes under Rule 4:32-1(b)(3). [Disclosure: My partner Susana Cruz Hodge and I filed an amicus brief in the Dugan cases on behalf of the Consumers League of New Jersey]. This case was a follow-on, in which only an injunctive relief class, under Rule...

On July 3, 1997, the Supreme Court decided Lemelledo v. Beneficial Management Corp. of America, 150 N.J. 255 (1997). Justice Handler’s opinion in that case, for a 6-0 Court, is a key Consumer Fraud Act (“CFA”) case. It is also the leading authority as to when a CFA claim is, or is not, pre-empted by the fact that the conduct complained of is regulated by multiple state agencies. The case, a class action, involved “loan packing,” which Justice Handler defined as “a practice on the part of commercial lenders that involves increasing the principal amount of a...