David Kott argued before the New Jersey Supreme Court on behalf of amicus New Jersey Business & Industry Association

Restaurant patrons who allege TGI Friday’s and Carrabba’s Italian Grill violated state consumer protection laws by omitting drink prices from their menus made a case for class certification during oral arguments before the New Jersey Supreme Court, reasoning that all of the allegedly affected customers incurred the same harm by overpaying for their cocktails. The high court’s review comes in response to separate rulings handed down in March by the state’s Appellate Division, one overturning class certification granted to plaintiffs in the TGI Friday’s Inc.’s case, and another, rejecting Carrabba’s Italian Grill operator OSI Restaurant Partners LLC’s appeal of the class certification granted to plaintiffs in their case. Arguing on behalf of the business community, Mr. Kott stated that there would be “nothing fair” about class certification in this case – which also included NJ Consumer Fraud Act claims – and that accordingly TCCWNA cases seeking only a statutory penalty should not be certified as a class on class certification of TCCWNA claims in a N.J. Consumer Fraud and TCWWNA class action.