CHASE BANK USA, N.A. VS. JENNIFER STAFFENBERG
A-4488-09T3 04-11-11
Credit card companies and banks are entitled to recover
statutory counsel fees from a debtor in the Special Civil Part,
pursuant to N.J.S.A. 22A:2-42, in the amount of five percent of
the first $500 recovered and two percent of the excess above
$500, even where they utilize the services of in-house attorneys
in procuring the judgment. The prohibitions in the Retail
Installment Sales Act of 1960, N.J.S.A. 17:16C-42(d), and in the
Market Rate Consumer Loan Act of 1996, N.J.S.A. 17:3B-40, on the
recovery of contract-based attorney's fees where in-house
counsel and salaried employees are utilized do not expressly or
impliedly repeal or nullify a plaintiff's entitlement to the
modest fees awarded in the Special Civil Part as taxed costs
under N.J.S.A. 22A:2-42.
