A lawsuit over Sunday shopping at American Dream is challenging Bergen County’s blue laws that restrict such sales.
The borough of Paramus — one of the top U.S. shopping destinations — is suing American Dream mall, Bergen County, the borough of East Rutherford and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. The mall’s stores are open on Sundays, and Paramus argues that violates the county’s blue laws.
U.S. blue laws, which date to the 1600s, prohibit certain activities on specific days — typically Sundays, to encourage churchgoing and observance of the Sabbath. Bergen’s blue laws ban non-essential retail sales on Sundays. Clothing, furniture, home decor, appliance and building supply stores are to stay closed, though restaurants, grocery stores and entertainment venues can remain open.
Paramus — 12 miles west of the George Washington Bridge, with roughly 26,000 residents — supports the Sunday ban for the quiet it brings. Its major highways, including the Garden State Parkway and Routes 4 and 17, are typically jammed with traffic heading to and from several regional malls and hundreds of other shops. Residential neighborhoods, in turn, struggle with traffic overflow, plus noise and emissions. The borough argues that American Dream gains an unfair advantage with Sunday sales while Paramus businesses remain closed.
Rutgers Law School professor Sarah Swan noted that Paramus is not seeking monetary damages, but instead wants a court order telling the mall that its retail stores must remain closed on Sundays.
The megamall argues that it’s exempt from blue laws because it’s located on state-owned land. The Sports and Exposition Authority, American Dream’s landlord, says in court filings that enforcing Bergen County’s blue laws is not within the agency’s jurisdiction.
Bergen County is asking that the case be dismissed. Swan said the county, though it wants the mall closed on Sundays, does not believe it has the power to enforce blue laws.
At future hearings, defendants are expected to argue that Paramus is not the proper plaintiff. Swan said the outcome could serve as a temperature check on where Bergen County residents stand on blue laws while noting that voters have repeatedly approved measures to keep the laws in place.
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