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Committee releases bill to require courts to publish consumer debt lawsuit statistics
Summary
The Assembly Regulated Professions Committee released A1340, which would direct the Administrative Office of the Courts to collect and publish detailed statistics on civil consumer debt collection lawsuits, including new filings by court division, cases pending 3+ months, representation rates and default judgments. There were no witnesses; the committee voted to release the bill.
Assemblyman Dan Hutchison presiding over the Assembly Regulated Professions Committee on the bill to improve transparency in consumer debt litigation.
The committee on Monday released Assembly Bill A1340, a measure that would require the Administrative Office of the Courts to collect and publish annual statistics on civil consumer debt collection lawsuits and to provide an annual report to the governor and Legislature.
Madeline read the bill into the record. The measure specifies the kinds of court data to be tracked, including the number of new consumer debt lawsuits filed (broken out by law division, special civil part and small claims section), the number of lawsuits pending three months or longer, how often defendants are represented by counsel, the number of judgments entered (including default judgments) and dispositions other than judgments. The bill also authorizes the administrative director to publish “any other statistics concerning consumer debt lawsuits that the administrative director of the courts deems appropriate.”
No witnesses appeared to testify on A1340. Committee members moved to release the bill to the full Assembly; during the roll call each member present voted to release the measure.
If enacted, the bill would create a regular public dataset and an annual report intended to give the Legislature and the public a clearer view of civil debt collection filings and outcomes in New Jersey. The committee released the bill to further consideration by the full Assembly.
