Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Cupid has pointed his arrow right at the hearts of New Jersey retailers and the judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. As previously reported, on January 31, 2011, pursuant to a request for emergency relief from the New Jersey Retail Merchants Association, the Third Circuit temporarily enjoined New Jersey from implementing the ZIP code maintenance requirements of the state’s new gift card law. (For a recap of this saga, see Sutherland’s Legal Alert, “Drama in New Jersey…Retailers Breathe a Temporary(?) Sigh of Relief,” issued on February 1, 2011).

The enjoined provision, enacted last summer as part of a significant expansion of New Jersey’s unclaimed property law, requires retailers and other gift card issuers to collect the residential zip code of anyone purchasing gift cards in the state.