Associate Gene Markin, member of the Construction Litigation group, authored the article Contractors Beware: Small Missteps Can Give Rise to Large Liability, which was published in the New Jersey Law Journal on October 5, 2015.
The article explains how the Contractors’ Registration Act (CRA), the New Jersey Home Improvement Practice Regulations (HIPR) and the Consumer Fraud Act (CFA) can protect homeowners from negligible contractors. To start, the CRA requires “That every home improvement contractor performing work in New Jersey be registered with the Department of Consumer Affairs… maintain at least $500,000 per occurrence commercial general liability insurance… and display in all advertisements, documents and contracts his registration number.”
Additionally, the HIPR details the very specific requirements for how contractors are or are not allowed to represent themselves, as well as the promises made, the performance of their work and their contracts with the consumer. Finally, the CFA protects the consumer by entitling them to “recover triple damages and attorney fees and costs” if they prove the contractor violated a single regulation.
Mr. Markin also discusses two recent cases and how these three regulations influenced the outcome for the consumers.
