By Matt Rooney
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One of the many disturbing trends we’re seeing during this pandemic is a casual disregard for constitutional rights. Not for a day or a week owing to exigent circumstances but for a period months… indefinitely. The obvious transgressions (abridging the right of free assembly) get the most attention. A less noted but no less worrisome infringement is impairment of private contracts.
It’s not sexy, I know. But it’s serious. Our friend and attorney Tom De Seno wrote about this at-length back in April when Governor Phil Murphy permitted tenants to pay rent with their security deposits. As Tom pointed out, that’s a direct violation of the Contract Clause of the U.S. Constitution which prevents state governments from passing laws that impair private contracts.
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Next up: Assemblymembers Angela McKnight (D-Hudson) and Herb Conway (D-Burlington) wants to break gym contracts.
That’s right. Gym contracts.
Introduced on Monday, A-5062 would permit gym members to cancel their memberships if, during a COVID-like health emergency, he or she wants to walk away from the contract. Any fees or penalties contained in the contract would be void. Members could also pause their memberships and escape any recurring payment obligations under the contract.
That’s a clear constitutional violation, Save Jerseyans. Blatant!
No one is a fan of gym contract penalties, but that’s not at all what this is about. Pandering elected officials can’t be allowed to rewrite contacts or our legal system will quickly devolve into something more familiar to the Third World than the what we’ve come to expect from the leading country of the Free World.
There’s also the not-so-insignificant issue that gyms are already suffering under a strict 25% capacity restriction, yet many (maybe most?) have already agreed to work with their members to pause membership without penalties. This bill is insult to injury and, in many cases, probably unnecessary. The market was already responding.
Elected embarrassments like McKnight and Conway are the reason we can’t have nice things, folks. Their ignorance is stunning but hardly surprising; they need to hit the books – and learn something about how this great country works, and why it works – and let the rest of us get back to hitting the weights free of unnecessary regulations.
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