The New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act is a law, it’s only in the state of New Jersey, that is designed to protect people who buy stuff. When I say people I mean businesses, individual people because the term fraud is probably overused, and the name of the law doesn’t actually describe what it was designed to do. What it’s designed to do is promote a fair market place. Meaning everybody knows what they’re getting, everybody knows what they’re buying, and everybody knows what they’re paying for.

For example, if you have somebody come over and put a deck on your house and they say that they’re going to use this quality of wood, this quality of nails, and it’s going to be completed in 60 days and then the thing’s made out of cardboard, put together with staples, and it takes 2 years to do it, that’s a case under the New Jersey Fraud Act. A lot of people refer to it as the Market Fairness Act. Some people refer to it as the Consumer Protection Act.

The idea is that if somebody sells you something and you pay for it, you should get what you paid for. If you don’t, there should be some penalty for that. That penalty is they can be sued under the Consumer Fraud Act. The way the Consumer Fraud Act came about was the state determined that rather than having 50,000 lawyers work for the Attorney General to keep an eye on everything, every person, every business in New Jersey could be their own Attorney General and enforce this law and have their lawyer’s fees paid and all their court costs as a penalty to the person who tried to essentially rip them off.

If you feel like you haven’t been treated fairly in a transaction, then you should talk to an attorney because you have a right to be treated fairly, you have a right to enforce this law, and by enforcing this law you’re promoting a fair playing field for everybody who’s involved in business in New Jersey.

If you are in need of experienced legal counsel in New Jersey, please contact Tomes Law Firm, PC and we will be happy to assist you.