Sanchez v. Fitness Factory Edgewater, LLC, ___ N.J. ___ (2020). In Mellet v. Aquasid, LLC, 453 N.J. Super. 23 (App. Div. 2017), the Appellate Division ruled that the Retail Installment Sales Act, N.J.S.A. 17:16C-1 to -61 (“RISA”), does not apply to health club or gym membership contracts. Mellet relied on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Perez v. Rent-A-Center, Inc., 186 N.J. 188 (2006), which involved rent-to-own contracts. The Supreme Court did not review Mellet. Today, the Court addressed the question of whether an “initiation fee” imposed by the defendant gym...

Shipyard Associates, L.P. v. City of Hoboken, ___ N.J. ___ (2020). [Disclosure: My firm, Lite DePalma Greenberg, LLC, represents the City of Hoboken and certain of its agencies and officials. We did not do so in this case, and do not ordinarily represent the City in matters of this type.]. N.J.S.A. 40:55D-52(a) of the Municipal Land Use Law (“MLUL”), N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq., provides that “[t]he zoning requirements applicable to the preliminary approval first granted and all other rights conferred upon the developer pursuant to [N.J.S.A. 40:55D-49] , whether conditionally...

C.C. v. J.A.H., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2020). The Prevention of Domestic Violence Act, N.J.S.A. 2C;25-17 et seq., allows the issuance of a restraining order for the protection of any “victim of domestic violence.” Such victims include “any person who has been subjected to domestic violence by a person with whom the victim has had a dating relationship.” But the statute does not define “dating relationship.” The question in today’s opinion by Judge Rose was whether the parties had a “dating relationship” even though they never went...