A coalition of 20 advocates has filed an amicus legal brief that argues many New Jersey courts are making mistakes in eviction cases, because they’re “struggling to understand” a new statute, said attorney Catherine Weiss of the Lowenstein Center for the Public Interest. The statute was designed to protect tenants who fell behind on rent during the pandemic. “If a court doesn’t pay attention, then the tenant stands at very great risk of eviction whether or not the papers that were filed meet legal standards,” Weiss said.
The brief states, “…the number of procedural mistakes in this case could lead litigants to assume that evictions can and will go forward regardless of the rules.” New Jersey’s Administrative Office of the Courts insists it trained all civil judges on landlord-tenant matters, adding, “Judicial decisions are not one size fits all.” Rulings will impact thousands of families… with 50,000 eviction cases already pending.
