In an important decision for E&O carriers for insurance brokers, the Appellate Division has held that even where an insured knows it has a potential malpractice action against its broker, that claim will not be barred by the Entire Controversy Doctrine if it is not brought in connection with a declaratory judgment action to deny coverage procured by the negligent broker.
Read MoreThe Appellate Court reversed the decision of the workers’ compensation judge, finding the “travel-time” exception to the going-and-coming rule does not apply where a salaried employee is reimbursed for gas, tolls, and wear and tear on his vehicle, but was not paid wages for the time of his commute to and from work.
Read MoreA tavern may be liable for negligence if it makes no effort to keep a visibly drunk patron safe, even though his drinking may have been done elsewhere. In a case of first impression, the Appellate Division held in Bauer v. Nesbitt, decided March 20, 2008, that a bar owner can be sued for failing to prevent a patron from getting into a car with another patron who was visibly intoxicated and later caused the passenger’s death. The court held that if the bar’s employees should have recognized that the passenger was drunk, even if he was not served alcohol there (the passenger only drank a Coke at the bar), there was a duty to protect him from foreseeable injury as the result of an automobile accident by insuring he did not drive and that he did not ride as a passenger with a patron who was similarly impaired. This is the first decision holding that if a patron becomes visibly intoxicated and the bar’s employees know or should have known, the patron should not be permitted to leave without trying to find safe transportation.
Read MoreThe New Jersey Workers’ Compensation system was the focus of an investigation conducted by the Star-Ledger Newspaper , one of the most widely-read newspapers in New Jersey. The articles (which ran consecutively in April) concluded that “bureaucratic delays, politics and poor state oversight have left thousands of injured workers waiting years for the relief promised by the compensation system.” The three-part article has led to a New Jersey Senate Labor Committee hearings scheduled to begin May 5th in Trenton to examine ways to “reform” the workers’ comp system in New Jersey.
Read MoreThe sponsor of a measure to expand damages in wrongful death cases, vetoed by Gov. John Corzine because it could fall heavily on public defendants, has reintroduced it and plans to tailor the bill to the Governor’s concerns.
Read MoreFollowing a series of unfavorable rulings in the Appellate Division over the past few years, New Jersey courts were generally of the view that biomechanical experts could not be called upon by defendants to opine that a minor automobile accident could not have possibly caused a serious medical condition.
Read MoreIn a decision rendered March 5, 2008, the Appellate Division agreed with the Firm that a CGL policy exclusion which seemingly denied coverage for any subcontractor’s employee sustaining injury on a construction site with the insured – whether or not the insured had retained that subcontractor – was invalid. In Pyramid Construction, LLC v. Essex Insurance Company, Docket No.: A-4290-06T3, the court found that the following language was inherently ambiguous and nullified the protections of the policy:
Read MorePassengers in stolen cars who are unaware the vehicles are being driven without the owner’s permission may collect PIP and UIM insurance if they’re injured in an automobile accident, the Appellate Division has ruled. In Hardy v. Abdul-Martin, the appeals court reversed a grant of summary judgment to an insurance company that denied coverage in such a circumstance under an exclusion in the insurance contract. The court said, “A passenger cannot be expected to inquire upon entry into a vehicle, as to the status of the car and driver, unless existing facts place the passenger on notice that the use of the car is questionable.”
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