In a unanimous decision on January 10, 2024, the New Jersey Supreme Court limited the scope of remedies available to consumers pursuing claims under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act (CFA). The case, DeSimone v. Springpoint Senior Living, Inc., centered on allegations that a collection of continuing care retirement communities defrauded the plaintiff and his deceased mother by falsely advertising a 90 percent refund of a deceased resident’s entrance fee.
After the plaintiff's mother passed away, he filed a class action complaint alleging that the defendants' advertisements constituted consumer fraud pursuant to the CFA. The plaintiff further claimed—and the trial court agreed—that under Section 2.11 of the Truth in Menus Act (TMA), he and all class members were entitled to a complete refund of all fees paid to defendants. The TMA allows restaurant patrons to recover full refunds for meals when restaurants misrepresent food identity in menus.
The New Jersey Supreme Court rejected this broad interpretation of the TMA, limiting its refund remedy specifically to consumer fraud in restaurant menus. The Court adopted NJCJI’s perspective that references to the TMA in prior consumer fraud cases were merely "background discussion" and not essential to those rulings. Additionally, NJCJI’s argument regarding legislative history—including Governor Byrne’s Conditional Veto Statement—was cited by the Court as justification for restricting the refund remedy to “food-related misrepresentations.”
As a result, partial summary judgment was entered in favor of the defendant, dismissing with prejudice class claims seeking refund damages.
Had plaintiffs succeeded in extending the TMA’s refund provision to all CFA claims, it would have allowed them windfall recoveries unrelated to actual losses and treble damages based on those refunds. This could have given plaintiffs' attorneys significant leverage in class action settlements. Therefore, by confining the TMA’s refund remedy solely to incidents of consumer fraud involving restaurant menus, businesses are protected from potentially predatory legal tactics.
