Legal Question in Consumer Law in New Jersey

Re: Does she have to pay?

Did they actually file a complaint with court or police department?

You can certainly file a counterclaim for the damages to your daughter's hair, but at a minimum you could contact the Board of Cosmetology & Hairstyling and file a complaint with them. Go to www.nj.gov, and follow the links to the Division of Consumer Affairs-Licensing Boards-Cosmetology. They should be able to assist you.

Good luck.

Re: Does she have to pay?

I am assuming that the salon filed this matter in small claims court.

With regards to you daughters rights, she can file a counterclaim for damages she incurred as a result of the faulty hair treatment (ie any corrective hair treatment she paid for).

Depending on the facts, there may be other options which may be available to your daughter in this situation.

If you would like to discuss all of the available options, email me [email protected] or call my office (just click on the attorney profile link for my phone number and other contact info) to schedule a complementary phone consultation.

Regards.

Re: Does she have to pay?

I am sorry that happened to your daughter. How traumatic. I have a number of questions about the salon -- did she go there before? Did she ever have the process done before? Is the complaint for payment for fees in municipal court or is it a criminal complaint? Based on what you have told me, I believe your daughter may have a consumer fraud action, negligence action against the hair salon and potentially a products liability law suit against the manufacturers' of the hair products. If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me at the number below.

Re: Does she have to pay?

The other responses are all correct and helpful, but I add the following.

1) File an answer to the Sp. Civil Part complaint, deny the charges, and counter-claim for A) Breach of Contract, B) Negligence, and C) Violation of the Consumer Fraud Act (which if you wil will give you treble damages - which means 3x your actual damages). You have to spell out as clearly as you can in short sentences, what happened. Name the people working on you if you can. After you file your answer, send them a letter (do NOT talk with them again), asking who their atty is... if they do not have one, suggest they get one to advise them, and tell them you will settle for your out of pocket costs to have their negligence 'repaired'. Send copies of the pics and the letter about the damages from the second salon.

IF they are smart, they will settle, if not, you made your best effort to settle the matter, which is important because... when you go to court you WILL be sent to mediation. NOW you can tell the mediator that you tried to settle for $XXX, and what your position is. Your position should be a strong one, and hopefully the mediator will explain to those folks nicely that they are morons and should have left well enough alone instead of filing suit when you left because they had screwed up.

One of two things will likly happen, they will pay you, or they will offer to drop their complaint. What you do is up to you at that point. IF you settle, make sure ANY settlement agreement says it is settled WITH PREJUDICE, meaning they can not re-file later (yes some people are so stupid that they do things like that).

Good luck.