Largoza v. FKM Real Estate Holdings, Inc., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2022). A line of federal cases that includes Prima Paint Corp. v. Flood & Conklin Mfg. Co., 388 U.S. 395 (1967), as well as, in New Jersey state courts, Goffe v. Foulke Management Corp., 238 N.J. 191 (2019), and Van Syoc v. Walter, 259 N.J. Super. 337 (App. Div. 1992), hold that fraud in the inducement challenges to a contract’s arbitration clause are to be treated differently depending on whether the fraud is alleged to have induced the contract generally or the arbitration clause in particular. Among other...

Adam v. Barone, ___ F.4th ___ (3d Cir. 2022). [Disclosure: I am one of the counsel for the successful plaintiff in this case]. Here is how Judge Smith began his opinion for the Third Circuit today in this putative consumer class action case: “Cindy Adam was charged nearly $100 for what she believed were free samples of beauty products. After complaining about the charge, she was offered the chance to return the items so that she might obtain a refund. Adam refused and eventually filed this lawsuit. The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey dismissed her complaint,...

Allen v. Ollie’s Bargain Store, Inc., ___ F.4th ___ (3d Cir. 2022). This blog has reported on several Third Circuit cases in which a unanimous panel opinion was accompanied by a concurrence signed by all three judges (here and here), or by two out of three of those judges (here), including the author of the panel opinion. Last Friday, however, Judge Porter wrote both a class certification opinion for a unanimous panel and a concurring opinion that addressed an issue that the panel decision declined to reach. This was an Americans With Disabilities Act (“ADA”) case....