Residents of a 240-unit apartment building in Edgewater that was destroyed by fire have failed to establish a basis for a New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act claim against their landlord, a federal judge in Newark has ruled.

The plaintiffs claimed AvalonBay Communities violated the Consumer Fraud Act (CFA) by making misrepresentations and omissions of fact to renters at its complex. But marketing statements labeled misrepresentations by the plaintiffs are non-actionable puffery, and the omissions they cited don't support a CFA count because landlords are not required to disclose those items, U.S. District Judge Jose Linares ruled Nov. 3 in DeMarco v. AvalonBay Communities.

Besides the CFA claim, the class action suit includes counts for negligence and for private nuisance. The suit, consolidated from three separate cases, was brought on behalf of residents who were displaced and who lost possessions and pets in the Jan. 21 fire at the site, known as Avalon. No one died in the fire, but two residents and two firefighters were injured. One building, known as the Russell Complex, was destroyed, while the other, known as River Mews, remained intact.