News & Articles

As of March 3, 2009 the State of New Jersey ‘phased out’ half of the centralized computer system (the part maintained by the Department of Human Services) which tracks when a child-support payer is “behind” in their support obligations. Typically, when a case reaches settlement (either by section 20 or Order Approving Settlement) the court clerk will check the computer database to make sure that the claimant doesn’t owe past-due child support. If child support was owed, then the Order reflects that a certain portion of the settlement must be remitted to the appropriate county probation department to satisfy the support requirement.

The claimant, Maria R. Natale, alleged that as a result of her occupational exposures while employed by the respondent she suffered from permanent residual disability. Six insurance carriers wrote coverage for the employer over the period of employment (1980 to 2001). Normally, the Judge of compensation will rely on the “Bond Doctrine” and hold that the “last carrier on the risk” is responsible for the overall disability.

The Appellate Division considered in Reyes, et al. v. Egner, et al., etc .,(decided January 8, 2009) whether the lessors of a beach house had a duty to correct or warn about what are claimed to be dangerous conditions of their property, presenting hazards that allegedly were not reasonably apparent to a short-term tenant and her guests.

A federal judge in Camden has handed down what appears to be the first federal court ruling to allow an insured to inspect a carrier’s computerized claims-adjustment process. U.S. Magistrate Judge Joel Schneider directed Allstate to produce “the data, pricing and software Allstate used between 2000-2004 to adjust property losses in New Jersey,” along with passwords, keys and activation codes needed to access and use it.

The New Jersey Supreme Court last Monday was asked to explode the legal fiction in UIM cases that the driver who caused the accident, not the plaintiff’s auto insurance carrier who declined coverage, is the defendant.