The Appellate Division affirmed the trial court in ‘Ferrigno v. Tyco.’ Greg Lois co-wrote the Appellate Briefs (with Michael S. Miller, Esq., of Tompkins McGuire). Decision is here (PDF).
Citation: Ferrigno v. Tyco International, Ltd., App. Div. A-3328-06T3 (Decided Aug. 15, 2008). Download decision (PDF).
Read MoreIn a case decided August 12, 2008, the Appellate Division held that where a personal injury protection benefits insurer has paid benefits to its inured, it is entitled to reimbursement of those benefits from the insurance proceeds of a third-party tortfeasor pursuant to N.J.S.A. 39:6A-9.1, even if the limits of the tortfeasor’s insurance policy are insufficient to make the insured whole. In Fernandez v. Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Company, which is approved for publication, the court resolved a perceived conflict between two prior opinions on this topic.
Read MoreAccording to the Division of Workers’ Compensation, 197,006 workplace accidents were reported in 2007. This led to 34,556 new workers’ compensation claims being filed. In addition, 4,773 “re-opener” claims were filed.
These figures show almost no changes in the numbers of filed cases over the past year, but do reflect an increase in reported accidents year-over-year (approximately 20,000 more accidents reported in 2007).
Read MoreIn the well known Rova Farms decision, the New Jersey Supreme Court held that a liability insurer who in bad faith refuses to accept a plaintiff’s reasonable settlement demand, will be liable for the amount of any judgment above and beyond the insured’s policy limits. In an opinion approved for publication on June 30, 2008, the Appellate Division held that a UM carrier cannot be exposed to Rova Farms liability in refusing to settle with an insured. The court in Taddei v. State Farm, was faced with a case where the plaintiff/insured made a settlement demand after non-binding UM arbitration of $87,500. A jury eventually awarded the plaintiff $2.6 million. However, the trial judge molded the verdict to the $100,000 policy limit. On appeal , the plaintiff argued that the carrier had acted in bad faith, in light of the refusal to settle. The Appellate Division was un-persuaded, reasoning that the Rova Farms bad faith model is inapplicable in the UM and UIM context because the insured is the claimant and, therefore, not exposed to an award in excess of the policy limit.
Read MoreIn a June 26, 2008 opinion from the Appellate Division in the case of Metta v. American Empire Surplus Lines Ins. Co., the court again affirmed the principle that insurance coverage follows indemnity. Often times, parties seeking additional insured status take the position that when a party is added to another’s CGL policy, they are entitled to the same coverages as the primary insured, without respect to the circumstances underlying a given loss. To the contrary, the court in Metta held that under the pertinent contract, the insured was to indemnify the additional insured only for the insured’s negligence. Thus the court held that since those damages, if any, had not been determined, final resolution had to abide the outcome of the underlying B/I case.
Read MoreOn July 16, 2004 Alfonso Estrada Moron (A.K.A. Eduardo Zambrano) was shot and killed in a hold-up while working for Quik Chek as an assistant manager.
There was no dispute that the decedent died “in the course of employment” and that his weekly wages were sufficient to give rise to a dependency rate of $227.98 per week.
Read MoreClaimant Orsola Doria, sixty-eight years old at the time of her alleged “accident,” filed occupational and specific accident claims against her employer alleging that as a result of her employment as a housekeeper for five years she was totally and completely disabled as a result of the following:
Read MoreMany Second Injury Fund Cases end with a Judge of Compensation ruling that the Fund is dismissed from the case. This usually happens when the Judge determines that (a) the claimant is not totally disabled, or (b) the claimant was totally disabled as a result of the last accident alone, or (c) the claimant’s pre-existing conditions were not disabling.
In the case of Vassilatos v. Mercer Wrecking Recycling Corporation, decided July 2, 2008, the Appellate Judges (Judges Fuentes and Grall) reviewed whether the workers’ compensation judge made specific-enough findings as to whether two intervening accidents “caused or contributed” to the claimant’s permanent disability.
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