Terms Used In New Jersey Statutes 2A:37B-1

  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • person: includes corporations, companies, associations, societies, firms, partnerships and joint stock companies as well as individuals, unless restricted by the context to an individual as distinguished from a corporate entity or specifically restricted to one or some of the above enumerated synonyms and, when used to designate the owner of property which may be the subject of an offense, includes this State, the United States, any other State of the United States as defined infra and any foreign country or government lawfully owning or possessing property within this State. See New Jersey Statutes 1:1-2
  • Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
  • State: extends to and includes any State, territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia and the Canal Zone. See New Jersey Statutes 1:1-2
8. Any current or former officer or employee of any federal, state, county, or other local governmental unit, including members of the Legislative Branch, Executive Branch, Judicial Branch, and all law enforcement entities, or the current or former officer’s or employee’s immediate family or estate injured by a filing or recording that relates to the performance or non-performance of the officer’s or employee’s public duties, and for which the filer does not hold a properly executed security agreement or judgment from a court of competent jurisdiction or for which the initial filer was not entitled to file the initial financing statement under N.J.S. 12A:9-509 may bring a civil action against the person or entity who filed or recorded the documents. Upon a showing that a filing is false or contains any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representations, or with the intent to harass, hinder, defraud, retaliate against, or in any way impede the performance of that officer’s or employee’s duties, the court may do any one or more of the following:

a. order the defendant to pay a sum of not less than $2000 for each fraudulent filing, or the actual damages caused by the filing or recording, whichever is greater;

b. enjoin the defendant from making any future liens, encumbrances, court actions, or claims against persons specified by the court without approval of the court;

c. award the plaintiff court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees; or

d. order any other relief as is required to clear title to the real or personal property.

L.2015, c.59, s.8.