During the lame duck season following New Jersey’s recent legislative elections, the New Jersey Civil Justice Institute (NJCJI) successfully opposed last-minute amendments to the state's newly adopted data privacy law (DPL). In 2022, NJCJI and a coalition of business groups had advocated for provisions granting sole enforcement authority to the New Jersey Attorney General and prohibiting private rights of action for data privacy violations. However, on December 21, 2023, floor amendments were introduced in the State Senate that threatened this prohibition.
NJCJI identified that these amendments could lead to private lawsuits and lobbied against them with legislative stakeholders and Governor Phil Murphy's office. As a result, in his signing statement for the DPL, Governor Murphy clarified: “this bill does not create a private right of action under this law or under any other law.” This statement is expected to help businesses defend against attempts at private enforcement of the DPL.
On January 8, 2024, Governor Murphy signed Assembly Bill 5794/Senate Bill 1438 (A5794/S1438) into law. This legislation authorizes labor unions to file civil suits on behalf of unaffiliated workers in construction trades for unpaid wages. NJCJI had expressed concerns that this law could enable wage and hour class actions against construction businesses without adequate safeguards. In response, two sets of amendments were introduced: one prohibiting unions from filing such lawsuits if a collective bargaining agreement existed between workers and employers; another requiring written consent from workers before filing suits on their behalf.
Two controversial bills opposed by NJCJI failed to advance during the lame duck session. The first bill, A5659/S4059 ("Establishes 21st Century Injured Workers’ Access to Justice Act"), aimed to amend the New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Act by mandating attorneys' fees awards equal to 25 percent of any recovery for prevailing claimants. NJCJI argued that this would strip judges of discretion in assessing fee awards based on hours worked or hourly rates.
The second bill, A4961/S3572, sought to support mass arbitration—a tactic where large numbers of consumers file identical arbitrations against a business—by outlawing bellwether clauses in consumer contracts. These clauses limit the number of arbitrations an attorney can bring simultaneously and are used by businesses to prevent leveraging initiation fees for settlements without merit consideration. NJCJI opposed this bill through written comments and oral testimony alongside several business associations.
