New Jersey Statutes 46:10B-29. Violations, remedies, liability
Terms Used In New Jersey Statutes 46:10B-29
- Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- 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
- Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
(2) Notwithstanding any provision of P.L.2003, c.64 (C. 46:10B-22 et seq.) or other law to the contrary, any borrower who asserts any defense, claim or counterclaim pursuant to subsection c. of section 6 of P.L.2003, c.64 (C. 46:10B-27) may do so only in an individual capacity and may not assert that defense, claim or counterclaim in a class action.
b. Except as provided in subsection a. of this section and, where applicable, subject to any limitation on the amounts recoverable against a holder or assignee pursuant to section 6 of this act, in addition to the remedies available to a borrower under P.L.1960, c.39 (C. 56:8-1 et seq.) and without limiting those remedies:
(1) Any person found by a preponderance of the evidence to have violated this act shall be liable to the borrower for the following:
(a) For material violations, statutory damages equal to the finance charges agreed to in the home loan agreement, plus up to 10% of the amount financed;
(b) Punitive damages, when the violation was malicious or reckless in appropriate circumstances as determined by the fact-finder; and
(c) Costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees.
(2) A borrower may be granted injunctive, declaratory, and such other equitable relief as the court deems appropriate in an action to enforce compliance with this act.
(3) The remedies provided in this section are not intended to be the exclusive remedies available to a borrower, nor must the borrower exhaust any administrative remedies provided under this act or any other applicable law before proceeding under this section.
c. A creditor in a home loan who, when acting in good faith, fails to comply with the provisions of this act, will not be deemed to have violated this section if the creditor establishes that either:
(1) Within 45 days of the loan closing, the creditor has made appropriate restitution to the borrower, and appropriate adjustments are made to the loan; or
(2) Within 365 days of the loan closing and prior to receiving any notice from the borrower of the compliance failure, and the compliance failure was not intentional and resulted from a bona fide error notwithstanding the maintenance of procedures reasonably adopted to avoid such errors, the borrower is notified of the compliance failure, appropriate restitution is made to the borrower, and appropriate adjustments are made to the loan.
Examples of bona fide errors include clerical, calculation, computer malfunction and programming, and printing errors. An error of legal judgment with respect to a person’s obligations under this section is not a bona fide error.
d. The remedies provided in this section are cumulative.
L.2003,c.64,s.8; amended 2004, c.84, s.5.