In merry olde England, the King was the law. Whatever he said went. Eventually, a second branch of law developed around litigants bringing petitions to the King’s Chancellor, seeking exceptions to the King’s laws. This second branch is the precursor of our present day Chancery Division of the New Jersey Superior Court. The Chancellor was considered to be the “keeper of the King’s conscience”.
There is a basic concept in the law of due process. Part of that is that a person or entity should not be sued in a State where it has not done business. In the old days, it might be sufficient to show that the defendant never stepped foot in New Jersey and therefore is not subject to the jurisdiction of the Courts. This question is governed by the principle of reasonableness and whether the defendant has minimum contacts sufficient that he should expect to be haled into court here.
The New Jersey Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) is an important litigation tool for gathering information, whether prior to suit or during the litigation process. It is particularly helpful when the dispute involves a public entity, public property or public employee.
The Federal courts have had electronic filing for many years, both in the district courts and the bankruptcy courts. Typically, this is initiated by the attorney opening an account with the court, which gives the attorney the ability to scan and upload litigation documents on line instead of having to mail the documents to the courthouse. Also, rather than having to write a check to the court, your online account is automatically charged.
Sometimes debtors do sneaky things like conveying real estate out of their names to try to put those assets out of the reach of their creditors. Fortunately, New Jersey has a Fraudulent Transfer Act that gives creditors some recourse. The Act grants a creditor a period of four years after the transfer to sue the debtor, or within one year of discovering the transfer, whatever is later.
In a recent New Jersey Federal court decision, a judge denied Wal-Mart’s motion for summary judgment and determined that the plaintiff was entitled to a trial on his claim for personal injuries arising in defendant’s store. Specifically, the plaintiff alleged that he tripped and fell over a fishing wire which Wal-Mart employees failed to reel in from a display but rather left on the floor.
Experience counts, particularly in the area of debt collection practice. Knowing all of the steps and consistently pursuing and applying them always makes a big difference in this area of the law.
It may be that you are behind on your credit card payments, a little or a lot, because you were out of work, or involved in a divorce. When the creditor refers your account for collection, it may just be a short while before it is turned over to an attorney to file suit against you. There are a number of options to address this situation.
Most people are well aware from personal experience about landlord-tenant relationships. Parties enter into a written lease providing for payment of a monthly rent and security deposit and containing the rights and responsibilities of the parties during the tenancy. Then if a tenant fails to pay rent, the landlord may file an eviction action in the Special Civil Part of the Superior Court.
