New Jersey Statutes 56:8-166.1. Person, business, association prohibited from publishing certain information on the Internet
Terms Used In New Jersey Statutes 56:8-166.1
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
- Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
- Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
- Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
- person: includes corporations, companies, associations, societies, firms, partnerships and joint stock companies as well as individuals, unless restricted by the context to an individual as distinguished from a corporate entity or specifically restricted to one or some of the above enumerated synonyms and, when used to designate the owner of property which may be the subject of an offense, includes this State, the United States, any other State of the United States as defined infra and any foreign country or government lawfully owning or possessing property within this State. See New Jersey Statutes 1:1-2
- Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. Source: OCC
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
(2) An authorized person seeking to prohibit the disclosure of the home address or unpublished home telephone number of any covered person consistent with paragraph (1) of this subsection shall provide written notice to the person from whom the authorized person is seeking nondisclosure that the authorized person is an authorized person and requesting that the person cease the disclosure of the information and remove the protected information from the Internet or where otherwise made available.
(3) An immediate family member who has provided notice pursuant to paragraph (2) of this subsection and who no longer resides with the judicial officer, law enforcement officer, child protective investigator in the Division of Child Protection and Permanency, or prosecutor shall provide notice to that effect to the person, business, or association not later than 30 days from the date on which the immediate family member no longer resided with the judicial officer, law enforcement officer, child protective investigator in the Division of Child Protection and Permanency, or prosecutor.
b. A person, business, or association that violates subsection a. of this section shall be liable to the covered person or the covered person’s assignee, who may bring a civil action in the Superior Court.
c. The court shall award:
(1) actual damages, but not less than liquidated damages computed at the rate of $1,000 for each violation of this act;
(2) punitive damages upon proof of willful or reckless disregard of the law;
(3) reasonable attorney’s fees and other litigation costs reasonably incurred; and
(4) any other preliminary and equitable relief as the court determines to be appropriate.
d. For the purposes of this section:
“Assignee” means a person or entity to whom or which an authorized person has assigned, in writing, a covered person’s right to bring a civil action for a violation of subsection a. of this section.
“Authorized person” means a covered person or any of the following persons hereby authorized to submit or revoke a request for the redaction or nondisclosure of a home address on behalf of a covered person:
(1) on behalf of any federal judge, a designee of the United States Marshals Service or of the clerk of any United States District Court;
(2) on behalf of any covered person who is deceased or medically or psychologically incapacitated, a person acting on behalf of the covered person as a designated trustee, as an estate executor, or pursuant to a written power of attorney or other legal instrument; and
(3) on behalf of any immediate family member who is a minor and who is otherwise entitled to address redaction or nondisclosure pursuant to this act, the parent or legal guardian thereof.
“Covered person” means an active, formerly active, or retired judicial officer, law enforcement officer, or child protective investigator in the Division of Child Protection and Permanency, as those terms are defined by section 1 of P.L.1995, c.23 (C. 47:1A-1.1), or prosecutor, and any immediate family member residing in the same household as such judicial officer, law enforcement officer, child protective investigator in the Division of Child Protection and Permanency, or prosecutor.
“Disclose” shall mean to solicit, sell, manufacture, give, provide, lend, trade, mail, deliver, transfer, post, publish, distribute, circulate, disseminate, present, exhibit, advertise, or offer, and shall include making available or viewable within a searchable list or database, regardless of whether a search of such list or database is actually performed.
“Home telephone number” means any telephone number used primarily for personal communications, including a landline or cellular telephone number.
“Immediate family member” means a spouse, child, or parent of, or any other family member related by blood or by law to, an active, formerly active, or retired judicial officer, law enforcement officer, or child protective investigator in the Division of Child Protection and Permanency, as those terms are defined by section 1 of P.L.1995, c.23 (C. 47:1A-1.1), or prosecutor and who resides in the same household as such judicial officer, law enforcement officer, child protective investigator in the Division of Child Protection and Permanency, or prosecutor.
“News media” means newspapers, magazines, press associations, news agencies, wire services, or other similar printed means of disseminating news to the general public.
“Person” shall not be construed to include in any capacity the custodian of a government record as defined in section 1 of P.L.1995, c.23 (C. 47:1A-1.1).
e. This section shall not be construed to prohibit a person, business, or association that has received information as unredacted pursuant to the provisions of sections 1 through 3 of P.L.2021, c.371 (C. 47:1B-1 through C. 47:1B-3) from making the information available consistent with the purposes for which the person, business, or association received the information. A person, business, or association that uses or makes available the information in a way that is inconsistent with the purposes for which the person, business, or association received the information shall be liable as provided pursuant to subsection c. of this section.
f. Nothing herein shall be construed to impose liability on the news media for failure to remove information from previously printed newspapers, and nothing herein shall be construed to impose liability relating to telephone directories or directory assistance unless the covered person has requested to be unpublished in the directory and directory assistance by the applicable publication deadline.
L.2015, c.226, s.3; amended 2020, c.125, s.6; 2021, c.24, s.5; 2021, c.371, s.8; 2023, c.113, s.6.