Association advocates for measures in lame duck session

The New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA) was in Trenton last week for a day of committee hearings, urging elected officials to approve two bills.

One bill, A-4044 (Greenwald)/S-3574 (Bell), was approved in the New Jersey Senate Commerce Committee. It prohibits non-disclosure clauses in certain contracts, specifically those related to vehicles. The NJSBA believes the concept is a good one because of the information it seeks to allow would provide consumers with vital information and protect them from bad actors.

Assemblyman Louis Greenwald introduced the bill following a June report that a Tesla automobile owner who sought repairs to a front wheel that detached from his vehicle was told that the company would pay for a portion of the repairs, but only if he agreed not to make any public statements regarding the defect. Tesla has since modified language in its “goodwill agreements,” but Greenwald vowed to take it a step further by creating legislation to ban the practice.

The Judiciary's Foreclosure Mediation Program, S-1130 (Rice)/A-1029 (Jasey), was also voted out of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee last week and faces a full vote in the Senate. The bill codifies the Judiciary's program established in 2009 in response to the increase in residential foreclosures.

The bill underwent amendments earlier this month to eliminate the requirement for the use of a “trained foreclosure prevention and default mitigation counselor” to act as mediator in any controversy submitted to the mediation program. The bill now leaves it up to the court to determine the qualifications necessary for a person to serve as a mediator.

Despite these changes, the NJSBA remains concerned that the penalties imposed on those who are deemed to have mediated in bad faith could cripple homeowners and put mediators in a position to compromise their confidentiality to ascertain good faith. Moreover, given the recent filing fee increases across the board following criminal bail reform, the bill's proposal to add a $50 filing fee to foreclosures adds yet another user tax on litigants. The NJSBA's position has always been that the courts should be accessible to all residents, and that taxpayers should share that responsibility.

NJSBA members among new judicial appointees

The New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee last week cleared the way for the appointment of 27 new judges, including a current and two former trustees of the NJSBA. Trustee Marc R. Brown, of Cranford, and former trustees Daniel L. Weiss, of Asbury Park, and James J. Ferrelli, of Mount Laurel, were among the nominees in a packed agenda that included nominations for the tax court, workers' compensation court, administrative law court and two county prosecutors.

The nominations conclude a session that started off with a contentious battle between the governor and the Senate president over vacancies and tenure nominations of superior court judges. The nominations stalled over a disagreement about who should be nominated to the Supreme Court.

Those named to the superior bench were:

Lorraine M. Augostini,* of Sparta; Avis Bishop-Thompson,* of Teaneck; Patrick J. Bradshaw,* of New Brunswick; Anne Marie Bramnick, of Westfield; Thomas J. Buck,* of Milltown; Patricia E. Carney,* of Basking Ridge; Joseph M. Chiarello,* of Millville; Lara K. DiFabrizio,* of Scotch Plains; George H. Gangloff Jr.,* of West Deptford; Richard L. Hertzberg,* of Warren Township; Thomas K. Isenhour,* of Middletown; Sarah Beth Johnson,* of Margate City; Michael E. Joyce, of Pennsauken; Kurt Kramer,* of Cherry Hill; Lourdes Lucas,* of Fair Haven; Thomas D. McCloskey,* of Flemington; Carol Novey Catuogno,* of Franklin Lakes; Ellen Torregrossa O'Connor,* of Middletown; Sheree Velita Pitchford, of Dunellen; Lisa A. Puglisi,* of Burlington;

Michael J. Rogers,* of Bloomsbury; Mitchell I. Steinhart,* of Fair Lawn; Gary K. Wolinetz, of Plainsboro; and William F. Ziegler,* of Mullica Hill.

In addition to these newly named judges, three were nominated for tenure: Angela Borkowski, Linda Grasso Jones and George S. Leone.

* denotes NJSBA member