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Court Extends Consumer Fraud Act to eBay Sales
"Sellers on Internet auction sites like eBay may fall in the maw of New Jersey's Consumer Fraud Act if they engage in sharp practices and deception, the state Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday. Though the justices said the plaintiff in Real v. Radir Wheels Inc., made out a textbook consumer fraud case, the ruling is an extension of the statute â?? which is traditionally invoked against merchants â?? into the sphere of peer-to-peer transactions."

UM/UIM Limits Held To Rein in Offer of Judgment Rule
"In a potential boon for automobile insurers, a New Jersey appeals court says sanctions imposed under the state's offer-of-judgment rule cannot be grounded on verdicts that exceed a policy's uninsured motorist coverage limits. Rather, it is the judgment molded to the policy limit that controls. The court, in Wadeer v. New Jersey Manufacturers Ins. Co., DDS No. 23-2-3310, reversed a trial judge who reduced a $255,175 verdict to the $100,000 policy limit but used the higher amount to trigger the offer-of-judgment rule."

Porzio Partners With Minority-Owned Firm
"Porzio, Bromberg & Newman has announced that it has formed a strategic alliance with Newark's Love and Long, whose three lawyers are African-Americans. The Morristown firm said the relationship is designed to serve corporate clients who require a certain minimal level of minority staffing and at the same time will provided Love and Long with the added resources it needs to tackle larger cases, both transactional and litigatory. Love and Long is a certified member of the National Minority Supplier Development Council, making it eligible for work from companies such as Walmart and DuPont that make a point of giving some of their work to minority-owned firms, and the terms of the certification allow the firm to subcontract some of that work. Love and Long, which also has a Philadelphia office, will remain a separate firm but will join Porzio Bromberg on client proposals."

State Regulation of Classic Bands' Successors Upheld
"A federal judge has dismissed a suit by performing groups claiming to be legitimate descendants of The Drifters, The Platters and The Coasters. The suit, by modern incarnations of the 1950s groups, charged that New Jersey's 'Truth in Music Act,' which forbids performers to advertise themselves as affiliated with a recording group unless they demonstrate the connection, runs afoul of the Lanham Act, which protects trademarks, and violates the performers' constitutional rights under the takings clause, the equal protection clause and the First Amendment. But U.S. District Judge Dickinson Debevoise ruled Tuesday in Singer Management Consultants v. Milgram that the constitutional claims were resolved by the state's agreement to interpret the Truth in Music Act to include common law trademarks rather than just registered marks, thereby providing equal protection."

Nut Company Searched Amid Salmonella Probe
"U.S. marshals, acting at the request of the Food and Drug Administration, executed a search warrant Wednesday at Westco Fruit and Nuts Inc. in Irvington after the firm refused to provide the federal agency with access to its distribution documents and declined to recall products. The FDA said the company received peanuts and peanut products from the Peanut Corporation of America, a Georgia company that was identified as the source of a nationwide salmonella contamination outbreak. As of March 17, 691 people had been infected with salmonella from peanut products in 46 states, with infections possibly contributing to nine deaths. Regulated companies are required to grant FDA entry for inspection, as well as provide access to distribution records."

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