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Bandler v. Maurice6/21/2002
owners of more than three units. 224 Jefferson Condo Ass'n v. Paige, 346 N.J. Super. 379, 390 (App. Div.), certif. denied, ___ N.J. ___ (2002). The less stringent standards for eviction applicable to owners of three units or less, we held, were justified by the substantial differences between such owners and owners of a larger development. Id. at 386-87. We found that penalties for statutory violation applied equally to both classes of owners. Id.
We are uncertain whether the notice provided by defendant pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1(l)(2) was statutorily adequate under the standards discussed in 224 Jefferson, since no evidence was presented below to establish that defendant had entered into a contract of sale at the time notice was provided or that defendant's buyer intended to occupy the unit. We therefore remand to permit the parties to present any proofs they may have on these issues, legal arguments related to those proofs, and any legally supportable damage claims. In this regard, we note the availability of treble damages and attorney's fees to tenants whose tenancy has been terminated in violation of the AEA. See N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.6.
We conclude by addressing one final error by the trial court, included in plaintiff's amended notice of appeal. After plaintiff had filed her initial appeal from the orders of dismissal entered against her, the trial judge granted a motion by defendant to modify the judgment of dismissal of Counts Two through Four to grant defendant $5,129.52 in attorney's fees as the result of plaintiff's failure to accept an offer of judgment that had been made pursuant to R. 4:58-1 earlier in the case. The trial judge lacked jurisdiction to enter this order at a time when plaintiff's appeal was pending. R. 2:9-1; Manalapan Realty v. Township Committee, 140 N.J. 366, 376 (1995); Sturdivant v. General Brass & Machine Corp., 115 N.J. Super. 224, 227 (App. Div.), certif. denied 59 N.J. 363 (1971). Further, the order had no legal foundation, since plaintiff was not awarded anything on her unliquidated damage claim, let alone an amount within the monetary range required by R. 4:58-3 as a basis for an imposition of attorney's fees; a range that "was evidently intended to protect a plaintiff from the penalizing consequences of the rule where he prosecutes the action in good faith, an offer is made by the defendant in a nominal amount, and a no-cause verdict is returned." Pressler, Current N.J. Court Rules, comment on R. 4:58. Of greater importance, we hold the offer of judgment rule to be inapplicable to claims in the Special Civil Part. In this regard, we note that no provision of the Special Civil Part Rules authorizes the use of that device by adoption. However, we do not base our determination on that ground alone, preferring instead a less mechanistic approach that focuses on an analysis of the effect of this particular rule upon special civil practice.
In Lettenmaier v. Lube Connection, Inc., our Supreme Court held that an award of statutorily-authorized attorney's fees under the Consumer Fraud Act should be excluded from a calculation of the jurisdictional limit of the Special Civil Part, since if it were included, actions otherwise cognizable in that Part would have to be filed in the Superior Court. Id. 162 N.J. 134, 143 (1999). The Court's rationale, was that uch a state of affairs would confound the purposes behind the Special Civil Part Rules, which are designed to provide "a streamlined structure and practice for the inexpensive and expeditious disposition of the many relatively minor . . . cases which make up the vast bulk of litigation in this state." Andriola v. Galloping Hill Shopping Center, 93 N.J. Super. 196, 200 (App. Div. 1966). The rules
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