Senate Commerce Committee Statement to Senate, No. 1047 — State of New Jersey (February 11, 2021)

Summary

A Senate Commerce Committee statement to the Senate on Senate Bill No. 1047, State of New Jersey, dated February 11, 2021, reporting the bill favorably. The bill amends the law exempting certain real estate licensees from certain damages under the consumer fraud law. Under current law, according to the statement, a person cannot recover punitive damages or attorney fees from a real estate broker, broker-salesperson or salesperson for passing on false, misleading or deceptive information from the seller, if the licensee had no actual knowledge and made a reasonable and diligent inquiry. The bill broadens the exemption to bar recovery of any damages when those conditions are met, and requires only that the communication be regarding the real estate.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No.
1047

STATE
OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: FEBRUARY
11, 2021

The
Senate Commerce Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 1047.

This
bill amends the law exempting certain real estate licensees from certain
damages under the consumer fraud law. Specifically, this bill broadens the
current exemption for real estate brokers, broker-salespersons, or salespersons
from a right of recovery by persons who suffer any ascertainable loss of money
or property, real or personal, by eliminating the current limitation with
respect to the right of recovery to punitive damages and attorney’s fees.

Current
law prevents a person from recovering punitive damages or attorney fees from a
real estate broker, broker-salesperson, or salesperson for the communication of
any false, misleading, or deceptive information provided to the real estate
broker, broker-salesperson, or salesperson by or on behalf of the seller of
real estate located in New Jersey, if the real estate broker,
broker-salesperson, or salesperson demonstrates that he had no actual knowledge
of the false, misleading, or deceptive character of the information and made a
reasonable and diligent inquiry to ascertain whether the information is of a
false, misleading, or deceptive character.

This
bill broadens the exemption to prohibit recovery of any damages if those
conditions are met. This bill further eliminates the provision in the current
restriction that requires that the communication to real estate brokers,
broker-salespersons, or salespersons is made by or on behalf of the seller, and
instead, it provides that the communication need only be regarding the real
estate.

File and source

File

2021-02-11_SCM_S1047_S1.htm

Size

6,020 bytes

SHA-256

70a2ad12299e10cc1d6db9ec502e2b66a66ffb712486cfdc5668931fdd5af1e6

Our copy

2021-02-11_SCM_S1047_S1.htm

Original

No public link identified.