Two years ago, the New Jersey Supreme Court made it clear that in cases where plaintiff alleged injuries from a product, the New Jersey Product Liability Act (“PLA”) subsumed all other common-law and statutory claims, including claims under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act (“CFA”). In 2010, there has been a flurry of decisions analyzing the circumstances under which the PLA precludes plaintiffs from pursuing a claim under the CFA. With the exception noted below, these decisions have followed established precedent concluding that the CFA claims are subsumed by the PLA when the “essential nature” of plaintiff’s claim is akin to a product liability action.

In three separate decisions decided in 2007 and 2008, the New Jersey Supreme Court and Appellate Division squarely held that PLA provides the exclusive remedy for plaintiffs alleging that a product was potentially harmful. In In re Lead Paint Litig. , 191 N.J. 405 (2007), plaintiffs sued lead paint manufacturers under a nuisance theory of liability alleging that their products posed a risk of physical harm. The New Jersey Supreme Court held that the “language chosen by the legislature in enacting the PLA is both expansive and inclusive, encompassing virtually all possible causes of action relating to harms caused by consumer and other products.” Accordingly, the Court dismissed plaintiffs’ nuisance claim holding that it was subsumed by the PLA.

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