Although it may not have received much mainstream media coverage, the recent enactment of the New Jersey Insurance Fair Action Act (“NJIFCA”) was a major victory for those injured in a car accident in New Jersey. The law came into force on January 18, 2022 by Governor Murphy over the fierce opposition of insurance companies and lobbyists here in New Jersey. In the last few months, you may even have received a letter from your insurance company telling lawmakers to contact you and vote against the bill.
please think about it! your The insurance company was looking for you To help close the bill that holds the company accountable if they don’t handle it you rather. That is correct! The new law protects injured people injured in New Jersey and have car insurance.
New Jersey Malicious Insurance Law
If you are injured in a car accident that is the fault of someone else and they do not have sufficient coverage (or worse, coverage!) Under an insurance policy to fairly cover your injury. , You are your own insurance company under uninsured / uninsured (UM / UIM) driver compensation for your insurance policy — these are also known as first party claims. Unfortunately, more and more drivers in our state have at least $ 15,000 in liability insurance, and some special types of insurance do not offer liability insurance at all, so UM / UIM Billing is becoming more and more common.
NJIFCA requires that when you make a UM / UIM claim against your own insurance company for an injury you have suffered, the company must handle the claim fairly. That may seem like common sense. After all, this is your insurance company. However, the fact that the law was needed shows how common this problem is that insurers do not treat their customers fairly.
Over the years, many New Jersey drivers have made the same observations when dealing with their insurance companies for these UM / UIM claims. The injured insurance company doesn’t want to treat me fairly. I refrain from listening too often. This new law aims to solve the problem.
New Jersey Insurance Fair Act (NJIFCA)
Under NJIFCA, an insured who makes a UM / UIM claim against an insurance company may file a civil suit against the insurance company if the insurance company:
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We unreasonably deny the claim of coverage.
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Unreasonably refuse to pay benefits.
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Unreasonably delay payment of coverage or benefits.also
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It violates New Jersey’s Unfair Claims Settlement Customary Law (UCSPA) (NJSA17: 29B-4).
Prior to the enactment of NJIFCA, private citizens could not make claims under UCSPA because they could only be enforced by the Secretary of the New Jersey Banking Insurance Authority.
In particular, the law does not require that the insurer’s behavior be a “general business practice”, but in that particular case it only indicates that the company has violated NJIFCA.
As mentioned above, if an insurer proves to be in breach of the Fair Action Act, the insured may claim damages that were not available prior to this Act, including: ..
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The actual damage caused by an insurance company’s breach of law is up to three times the actual coverage under the insurance contract.When
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Pre-judgment and post-judgment interest, attorney’s fees, and costs
What does this mean to you? What questions remain?
Now that the law has been passed, how does this work in the real world? There are many unanswered questions about how rights and remedies under NJIFCA are handled correctly.
First and foremost, what is the statute of limitations for making such a claim? Will it run from the day of the injury? From the day the claim was first rejected by the first-party insurance company? From the day of the verdict?
There is also the question of exactly what is needed to prove the claim under NJIFCA. In general, whenever a “rationality” issue arises in a legal setting, it is considered a matter of fact that the jury must make a decision. It is also unclear whether a verdict for the first UM / UIM claim is required before claiming a claim under this new law alleging that the insurer has acted improperly.
Once a claim is made, there is no guidance on the criteria used to assess whether a person has successfully proved a claim — is it due to the predominance of evidence? With clear and compelling evidence? Or other criteria that may still be clarified by the court.
These questions seem to have been deliberately left unresolved in the bill and are undoubtedly the topic of hotly contested discussions in New Jersey courts for some time. But these unanswered questions do not undermine the fact that this new law gives us a powerful tool to keep fighting injured clients! If you are injured by an uninsured or uninsured driver and feel that your insurance company may have abused you, you can contact a New Jersey accident lawyer for a free case assessment.
