Tenants who file for bankruptcy pose special challenges to landlords. This is especially so if the tenant has not been paying rent for some time before filing its bankruptcy petition. The Automatic Stay: The “automatic stay” comes into effect the moment a tenant files a bankruptcy petition. The “automatic stay” means all debt collection activity […]

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A recent unpublished (therefore, non-precedential) Appellate Division decision, Herz v. 141 Bloomfield Ave. Corp. (App. Div. 2015), illustrates a typical flashpoint between landlord and tenant, especially commercial landlords and tenants: Who is responsible for what kind of maintenance to the property? The tenant sued the landlord for “lost profits,” alleging that the landlord had permitted […]

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A recent unpublished (therefore, non-precedential) Appellate Division decision, Herz v. 141 Bloomfield Ave. Corp. (App. Div. 2015), illustrates the danger of getting the signature lines wrong on a commercial lease. The commercial tenant was a corporation. The corporation’s president signed the lease as “President.” Although the lease contained language specifying the tenant’s president would be […]

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If you are having trouble servicing your debt, do not simply give up and walk away. You have more options now than in years past to delay foreclosure, buy time to get your finances back in order, or to restructure your debt.

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With the advent of all kinds of new ways of communicating, whether through e-mail, SMS text messages, or social-networking accounts, it is becoming all-too-common for people and even business entities to find themselves in a legal dispute without hard evidence. This is happening everywhere and seemingly more and more often, from the average consumer in […]

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New Jersey has adopted a powerful set of legal protections for consumers, commonly known as the Consumer Fraud Act. The Consumer Fraud Act is meant to protect the consuming public – and sometimes businesses as well – from the acts and omissions of businesses engaged in the selling of a wide range of products and […]

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Older legal documents such as wills, powers-of-attorney, and health care directives (sometimes known as living wills) deserve periodic review and updating. Even though the law changes relatively slowly compared to computer technology and the latest entertainment news, the law does change. You need to check whether you are keeping up with the changes, particularly if […]

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently predicted that New Jersey would not impose a duty on an individual commercial tenant for a dangerous condition in a common area, at least not where the commercial landlord had agreed to exercise maintenance responsibilities.

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