WASHINGTON – The New Civil Liberties Alliance, a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights group, filed its opening brief Monday in the lawsuit Kravitz v. Murphy in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division.
The lawsuit challenges New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s Executive Order No. 128 (EO 128), which forces landlords to use their tenants’ security deposits toward rent payments and criminalizes adherence to existing contracts, NCLA officials said in a news release.
“The order undermines property rights by suspending existing laws governing residential leasehold contracts and depriving property owners of security against property damage caused by tenants,” the organization said.
NCLA represents small-property owners who are covered by Murphy’s order, according to the news release. The organization said the appellants in the case are ordinary people who are also struggling financially as a result of the pandemic.
Without contractually required security deposits, these landlords are forced to cover the costs of any property damage caused by tenants out of their own pockets rather than using the restitution guaranteed in the contracts they signed, according to the news release. In one instance, a landlord was unable to track down former tenants who caused over $1,800 worth of damage to his rental property.