New Jersey Supreme Court Holds Defendants Cannot Recover Fees in CEPA and LAD Cases under Offer of Judgment Rule

Best v. C&M Door Controls, Inc., No. A-57-08 (Sup. Ct., October 14, 2009) – The state Supreme Court recently upheld the Appellate Division’s August 19, 2008 decision, reported in the September 2008 issue of the New Jersey eAuthority, that a defendant can never be awarded fees under the Offer of Judgment Rule [R. 4:58] in any case involving New Jersey’s Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA), the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD), or any similar fee-shifting statute. The court held, however, that a trial judge may take into account a plaintiff’s unreasonable rejection of an offer of judgment when calculating a successful plaintiff’s attorney’s fee award under such statutes.

Note: This article was published in the November 2009 issue of the New Jersey eAuthority.