NJ Justices Debate Longstanding Debt Collection Defense

A fight over whether New Jersey debt collectors face liability for unlicensed consumer lending is forcing state justices to confront whether the Legislature quietly jettisoned a century of private litigation enforcement.

On Tuesday the New Jersey Supreme Court pushed back against a borrower and consumer rights groups, who urged the bench to revive a purported class action in which borrowers want to keep loan principals if debt collectors violate state Consumer Finance Licensing Act rules. One big hangup for several justices is that language going back to 1914 saying consumers “can recover” from violating lenders was tweaked to say lenders ...