Since its introduction several decades ago, home improvement contractors in New Jersey have been rightly concerned about the Consumer Fraud Act (CFA), N.J.S.A. 56:8-1. Known as one of the most aggressive consumer protection statutes in the nation, the CFA has sharpened its focus on home improvement contractors over the years. The CFA was enacted to protect consumers from improper selling and unconscionable commercial practices by “prevent[ing] deception, fraud or falsity, whether by acts of commission or omission, in connection with the sale and advertisement of merchandise and real estate.” Fenwick v. Kay American Jeep, 72 N.J. 376, 377 (1977). Violators of the CFA face treble damages and attorney fee-shifting:

The act, use or employment by any person of unconscionable commercial practice, deception, fraud, false pretense, false promise, misrepresentation or the knowing concealment, suppression or omission of any material fact with the intent that others rely upon such concealment, suppression or omission in connection with the sale or advertisement of any merchandise … whether or not any person has in fact been misled, deceived or damaged thereby.

N.J.S.A. 56:8-2