Jun 17, 2020

Schenck Price Wins at New Jersey Supreme Court

In a landmark ruling, the New Jersey Supreme Court held that property owners and managers cannot be subjected to invasion-of-privacy lawsuits unless plaintiffs present actual evidence of a privacy invasion.

This ruling marks a significant victory on behalf of New Jersey’s real estate industry, resulting from years of litigation and effort undertaken by Schenck Price’s Bill Buckley, T.J. Hull and Tom Cotton. Schenck Price’s clients, a collection of prestigious real state and property management firms, had been sued by dozens of individuals after a rogue janitorial contractor was caught installing a camera in a women’s restroom.

Schenck Price successfully persuaded the Supreme Court to review the case, after the Appellate Division had decided to let the claims proceed despite the lack of any evidence that their privacy had been invaded.  Following multiple rounds of briefing, including an opposing brief from the ACLU of New Jersey, Schenck Price convinced the Supreme Court to reverse the Appellate Division decision and reinstate a dismissal originally entered by the trial court in 2014.

The Supreme Court’s decision sends a message that, while invasion-of-privacy victims will be afforded the utmost respect and the opportunity to litigate their claims, property owners and managers will likewise be protected from speculative lawsuits.