Lawmakers, business leaders, and attorneys gathered together on October 11 to discuss this important topic, with a particular focus on New Jersey’s Truth-in-Consumer Contract, Warranty and Notice Act (TCCWNA).
What is TCCWNA?
The Truth-in-Consumer Contract, Warranty and Notice Act is designed to provide consumers a quick and easy way to enforce their legal rights. The Act forbids any seller, lessor, creditor, lender or bailee from violating “any clearly established legal right of a consumer or responsibility of a seller, lessor, creditor, lender or bailee as established by State or Federal law” when they enter into a written contract with a consumer or give or display any “warranty, notice or sign” to a consumer.
If a business violates TCCWNA (which necessarily means they violated some other legal right since the Act itself does not create any new consumer rights), it is on the hook for $100 or actual damages, plus reasonable attorneys’ fees and court costs. Consumers may also petition a court to void a contract that violates TCCWNA.
During a McCarter-sponsored panel discussion of TCCWNA, which was moderated by Edward Fanning and featured an overview of pending cases and thoughtful debate about what direction the law should go in order to protect consumers without subjecting businesses who have not done any actual harm to multimillion-dollar lawsuits.