New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act (CFA) is considered to be one of the strongest consumer protecting statutes in the country.  Apart from allowing a successful claimant to obtain three times the actual damage sustained by the merchant’s illicit conduct, it also requires merchants who violate the CFA to pay the successfully claimant’s attorney fees.

In addressing CFA claimant’s request for attorney fees, a trial court is required to begin an analysis of the claim with the so-called lode-star concept which is merely the computation of the number of hours reasonably spent by the successful claimant’s lawyer during the litigation process, multiplied by a reasonable hourly rate. Once that analysis is completed, the court may consider other factors, including: (a) the time spent prosecuting the CFA claim as opposed to various other claims contained in the claimant’s pleading; (b) the novelty of the issue subject of the CFA claim and; (c) whether the claimant’s lawyer has been paid on an hourly basis or a contingent fee basis.  Notably, some cases indicate that the attorney fee claim does not have to be proportionate to the amount of the recovery.