In a recent unpublished decision under New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act, the Appellate Division in D. Wyatt Stone and Stone Foundation, LLC v. Kahr Properties, LLC, December 2008 App. Div. 09-2-2471), decided the appeal of a judgment in the Plaintiff’s favor for damages, attorneys’ fees and costs arising from a home improvement project. The Plaintiff was a limited liability company engaged in the business of buying, renovating and reselling residential properties. The Defendant was a family-owned company whom the Plaintiff contracted with to renovate a residential property. The project met with delays, shoddy workmanship and overcharges, which prompted suit by the Plaintiff under the Consumer Fraud Act. The Defendant appealed the judgment in Plaintiff’s favor by arguing that the Consumer Fraud Act was not intended to apply to a corporate entity such as the Plaintiff that is engaged in the business of buying, renovating and reselling residential properties. The Appellate Division disagreed, finding that the Consumer Fraud Act applied to the transaction between the parties, based upon testimony from the Defendants that established they were involved in the sale or advertisement of home improvement services, either directly or indirectly to the public, and finding that the Act was meant to protect both business entities like the Plaintiff as well as individual consumers.
