Bill Text: NJ A3899 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires automobile insurers to disclose policy limits upon request by an attorney under certain circumstances; requires publication of insurer email addresses on DOBI website within 90 days.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-23 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee [A3899 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-A3899-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman JOANN DOWNEY
District 11 (Monmouth)
SYNOPSIS
Requires automobile insurers to disclose policy limits upon request by an attorney under certain circumstances; requires publication of insurer email addresses on DOBI website within 90 days.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning disclosure of automobile insurance policy limits and supplementing P.L.1972, c.70 (C.39:6A-1 et seq.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. An insurer who receives a request, from an attorney admitted to the practice of law in this State, for disclosure of the policy limits under a private passenger automobile insurance policy issued by the insurer to an insured, shall provide written disclosure of the policy limits to the attorney no later than 30 days from receipt of the request. The disclosure shall indicate the limits of all private passenger automobile insurance policies and any applicable umbrella or excess liability insurance policies issued by the insurer to the insured.
b. A request for disclosure of policy limits shall be in writing and shall include:
(1) a statement that the attorney represents an individual who has suffered bodily injury or death alleged to be caused by a motor vehicle accident with an insured under a private passenger automobile insurance policy issued by the insurer;
(2) the name and last known address of the insured;
(3) the date and approximate time of the motor vehicle accident; and
(4) a copy of the accident report, if available, relating to the motor vehicle accident.
c. Disclosure of policy limits under this section shall not constitute an admission that the alleged injury or damage is subject to the policy.
d. Information concerning the insurance policy shall not be admissible as evidence at trial by reason of disclosure pursuant to this section.
e. The Department of Banking and Insurance shall publish on its website the email address of each insurer, which shall be supplied by each insurer issuing private passenger automobile policies in this State, for the purpose of receiving requests for policy limit disclosures pursuant to this section.
2. This act shall take effect immediately, except subsection e. of section 1 of this act shall take effect on the 90th day next following enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill provides that an insurer who receives a request, from an attorney admitted to the practice of law in this State, for disclosure of the policy limits under a private passenger automobile insurance policy issued by the insurer to an insured, shall provide written disclosure of the policy limits to the attorney within 30 days from receipt of the request. The disclosure shall indicate the limits of all private passenger automobile insurance policies and any applicable umbrella or excess liability insurance policies issued by the insurer to the insured.
The bill provides that a request for disclosure of policy limits shall be in writing and shall include:
(1) a statement that the attorney represents an individual who has suffered bodily injury or death alleged to be caused by a motor vehicle accident with an insured under a private passenger automobile insurance policy issued by the insurer;
(2) the name and last known address of the insured;
(3) the date and approximate time of the motor vehicle accident; and
(4) a copy of the accident report, if available, relating to the motor vehicle accident
Under the bill, disclosure of policy limits does not constitute an admission that the alleged injury or damage is subject to the policy, and information concerning the insurance policy is not admissible as evidence at trial by reason of disclosure pursuant to the bill.
The Department of Banking and Insurance is required to publish on its website the email address of each insurer, which shall be supplied by each insurer issuing private passenger automobile policies in this State, for the purpose of receiving requests for policy limit disclosures. This provision takes effect on the 90th day next following enactment of the bill.
